elia had nothing to say, but she allowed him a glance of her dark
eyes which was not discouraging.

Allan went on: "I am so tired of mistakes and misunderstandings that,
before the subject is closed forever between us, I want you to know the
exact truth in regard to my feelings.

"When I received your letter putting an end to things, at first I was hurt
and angry, and I tried to persuade myself that it was for the best after
all. You see, I did not know your side, and you will forgive me if I
confess I thought you childish and lacking in deep feeling. Then, two
years later, I saw you with the children, coming down the stairs at the
Gilpin house, and something made me feel dimly that I had wronged you; but
still I could not understand, until some words of Cousin Betty's suddenly
made it clear. It was maddening to think what my long silence must have
seemed to mean to you. Then, for the first time, I saw the real barrier
between us, and the more I thought of it, the more impenetrable it became.

"But it is hard for me to give up. I have looked at it on all sides; I
went away that I might think more clearly about it, and of late I have
begun to hope. I believe that love worthy of the name lives on in spite of
everything, and I have dared to wonder if your love could have weathered
this storm; if you still cared, though it might be only enough to give me
the chance to win you again." Allan bent forward in his earnestness, his
eyes fixed appealingly upon the small, still figure in the corner of the
settle.

"Do you not care at all, Celia?" he asked, after a moment's silence.

Celia lifted her eyes. "Care?" she cried, "I have always cared,--through
everything! When I thought you knew and believed the cruel charge against
my father; when I knew his heart was broken; when he was dead,--when I
wanted to hate you, still I cared. Have you cared like that?"

This vehement confession, with its note of defiance, was bewildering.
Allan hesitated before this unapproachable, tempestuous Celia. Then he
drew his chair nearer. "Celia, dear heart, do not speak so; I have not
been tried like you, but give me the chance and see how I will atone for
the past."

Suddenly Celia held out her hand; "Oh, Allan, I am so very bad-tempered. I
seem always determined to quarrel," she said, with a laugh that was half a
sob.

This was enough, the strain was broken; Allan forsook the arm-chair for
the settle.

It was perhaps some fifteen minutes