you suffer."

She stopped short with a little sob of agitation, and Maud stared at her
with wondering eyes.

"Suffer! I? Why should I suffer?" Then the colour rushed in a sudden
wave to her cheeks, and her voice broke in the single, stifled inquiry,
"Ned?"

"Yes. It is Lilias! He has asked mother for Lilias. She came upstairs
and sent me out to meet you, so that you might not hear it suddenly.
She thought you would rather have it so."

"How kind of her! That was good of you both!" said Maud calmly. Her
heart had stopped for a moment, and was now beating away at
extraordinary speed; a singing noise was in her ears: it was as if some
one had dealt her a violent blow, and she was as yet too stunned to
realise its nature. She turned her head aside, and _gazed_ vaguely up
and down. A nursemaid wheeled a perambulator on the opposite pavement,
while a little white-robed figure trotted at her side, tossing a ball in
the air. Maud watched her movements with fascinated gaze. It seemed as
though some tremendous issue depended on whether the ball was caught in
those tiny, uncertain fingers.

"Ned wants to marry Lilias, does he?" Her voice sounded strange and far
away, and she noted as much, and pondered on the peculiarity. "They
will make a handsome couple. Lilias is so fair. She will look well
beside him."

"Maud, don't! For pity's sake don't take it like that!"

The tears were raining down Nan's cheeks, and she seized her sister's
hand in a passionate grasp.

"I know all about it. I am almost as wretched as you are. Don't
pretend to me. Say what you feel to me, at least, and it will help you
to bear it."

"But I don't feel anything," said Maud dully. "It seems like a dream.
Lilias! He loves Lilias, and not me; he never loved me at all! He has
been thinking of Lilias all this time. It's--very--strange! I think
what I feel most is shame for my own conceit. I have been deceiving
myself all along, and that is a miserable thought! You should not
sympathise with me, Nan: you should scold me, and tell me to be ashamed
of myself."

She spoke in the same dull, strangled note, and Nan continued to cry and
clasp her hand in distress.

"I could never do that, or be anything but proud of you, darling! It
was no conceit at all on your part, for we all thought the same. He
always seemed to prefer being with you, and to be so shy and constrained
with Lilias. I suppose that was a sign, but we did not r