ld dart away to another topic, or would
find some ready excuse for leaving him. Furthermore, the very power of
his love made him likewise often constrained and ill at ease in her
presence; and as the months dragged on, it seemed to him that not only
was he making no progress toward winning her, but that he was losing
even her former frank regard. He frequently questioned the reliability
of the revelation which had come to him that afternoon at the spring;
for although it had given him unmistakable knowledge of his own
feelings, it had, he feared, erred in its interpretation of hers. Nor
was the element of jealousy wanting to complete his torment at this
period. Betsy was developing into the recognized beauty and belle of
the county, and not only did the rustic swains of the neighborhood
court her favor, but the fashionable beaux from Lexington and Frankfort
found abundant attraction at Oaklands. The one feared most by Abner was
James Anson Drane, who, besides being well-to-do and of good family,
was handsome and gallant and stood very high in Major Gilcrest's good
graces. In fact, it seemed to Dudley in his moments of deepest
despondency that Drane had everything in his favor, while he himself
had nothing to plead in his own behalf save the might of his love, and
that between two such suitors as Drane and himself no girl would
hesitate to choose the former.

Under the sway of these feelings, Abner's first instinctive dislike of
Drane, which had been lulled to sleep by the young lawyer's courteous
bearing, awoke into more than its former vigor. At times the
schoolmaster felt ready to believe anything of James Anson Drane--he
was a schemer, a traitor, and was doubtless even now plotting against
the Government. He would marry Betty, of course, and would wreck her
happiness, and bring financial ruin and political disgrace upon the
Gilcrests. Nevertheless, although Betsy's reserve, his own lack of
opportunity for wooing her, and his jealous distrust of Drane, made
Abner alternately chafe and despond, yet through all these moods there
ran the fiber of a proud, buoyant spirit which would not allow him to
give up; and hope, though for a time baffled, retreated only to advance
again with new courage.

While returning from Bourbonton one May afternoon, Abner, lured by the
beauty of the day, turned from the public road, and chose instead a
sequestered bridle-path which, with many a devious turn and twist,
wound through the fores