uld not
complain, for if there was little sympathy between her sisters and
herself, the fault was her own, and in her heart she confessed that it
was so. It is impossible to live a selfish, self-engrossed life without
suffering for it in hours of loneliness, and Lilias was beginning to
learn this lesson to her cost.

When tea was over, Gervase went back to the Grange to sit with his
uncle, while Nan adjourned upstairs to superintend that last trying-on
of bridesmaids' dresses which the younger girls declared to be
imperative.

"My dear, you don't know what may be wrong! I slipped on my bodice last
night, and it was two inches too tight. That doesn't matter--I'll have
a slim figure for your wedding, if I die for it; but consider--just
consider--how fe-arful it would have been if it had been too loose!"
cried Agatha tragically; and after that there was plainly no refusal
possible.

Mrs Rendell wished to interview the cook, Jim had a letter to write--
every one, it appeared, had some important and pressing matter demanding
attention, save only Maud and Ned, who were left to their own devices,
and presently wandered off towards that portion of the garden most
sheltered from observation. Both knew what was coming, and both were
trembling with hardly suppressed agitation; then presently their eyes
met, Ned held out his hand, and Maud's went out to meet it without a
moment's hesitation.

"Do you forgive me, Maud? Can you believe in me again? Can you give
yourself to a man who loves you with all his heart, and can never do
enough to show his remorse for his own miserable mistake? I did you a
cruel wrong, but I have suffered for it all these years... Could you
find enough charity in your heart to forgive me, and give me another
chance?"

"I have nothing to forgive!" said Maud simply. Dear thing! and she
meant it too; for when she loved, she found it impossible to blame, and
Ned had been her hero for so many a long year. "It was quite natural
that you should be fascinated by Lilias, for she is so beautiful and
charming. I did not blame you, even at the time; but oh, Ned, I was
very miserable! I loved you so dearly, I longed so much to help you!
There is nothing in the world which could make me so happy as to be your
wife!"

Ned's words of love, of gratitude, of almost tearful remorse, are too
sacred to be repeated. He had reached his goal at last, and, looking
back upon the past, felt that all the troubles w