't you think it does, Mr. Hilary, that he would
know better than anybody else, what we ought to do. Any rate, I think we
ought to wait and consult with him about it, and see what he says. The
property belonged to mother in the first place, and he mightn't like to
have us part with it."

"I don't think you need trouble about that, now, Miss Northwick," said
Matt. "Nothing need be done about the property at present."

"But I keep thinking about it. I want to do what Sue thinks is right,
and to see it just in the light she does; and I've told her I would do
exactly as she said about it; but now she won't say; and so I think
we've got to wait and hear from father. Don't you?"

"Decidedly, I think you ought to do nothing now, till you hear from
him," said Matt.

"I knew you would," said the old maid, "and if Sue will be ruled by me,
she'll see that it will all turn out right. I know father, and I know
he'll want to do what is sensible, and at the same time honorable. He is
a person who could never bear to wrong any one out of a cent."

"Well," said Sue, "we will do what Mr. Hilary says; and now, try not to
worry about it any more," she coaxed.

"Oh, yes! It's well enough to say not to worry _now_, when my mind's got
going on it," said the old maid, querulously; she flung her weak frame
against the chair-back, and she began to wipe the gathering tears. "But
if you'd agreed with me in the first place, it wouldn't have come to
this. Now I'm all broken down, and I don't know _when_ I shall be well
again."

It was a painful moment; Sue patiently adjusted the cushion to her
sister's shoulders, while Adeline's tongue ran helplessly on. "You were
so headstrong and stubborn, I thought you would kill me. You were just
like a rock, and I could beat myself to pieces against you, and you
wouldn't move."

"I was wrong," said the proud girl, meekly.

"I'm sure," Adeline whimpered, "I hate to make an exhibition before Mr.
Hilary, as much as any one, but I can't help it; no, I can't. My nerves
are _all_ gone."

The doctor came, and Sue followed Matt out of doors, to leave her, for
the first few confidential moments, sacred to the flow of symptoms,
alone with the physician. There was a little sequestered space among the
avenue firs beside the lodge, with a bench, toward which he led the way,
but the girl would not sit down. She stood with her arms fallen at her
side, and looked him steadily in the face.

"It's all true that she