you--this sort of
question is not easy even for a sister to ask. Yes, Douglas wrote and
Agnes too. Dear little Lettice is so much better. He thinks she will
pull through now, thank God! but they nearly lost her."

"Was it so bad as that, Die?" in an awed tone.

"Yes, it has been a terrible illness. They have nurses, of course, but
poor Agnes is almost worn out. She is their only girl, and Douglas does
so doat on her. He has suffered so--one can read it in every word," and
Dinah's voice shook a little.

Perhaps it needed only that to bring Elizabeth's emotion to a
culminating point, for to Dinah's surprise she suddenly knelt down and
put her arms round her and the tears were running down her face.

"Oh, Die, stop! I cannot bear to hear you--it pains me so--it pains me
all over!"

"My darling Bet! Oh, you foolish, foolish Betty!" But Elizabeth was not
to be soothed so easily.

"That is why I never mention his name. I try to pretend sometimes that
I do not see his handwriting. Oh, Die," caressing her, "how can any
woman be such an angel! It is not natural. In your place, under your
circumstances, I would never have seen him again."

"Dear Elizabeth," returned Dinah quietly, but her face had grown very
white, "you must surely remember that we never met--never thought of
meeting--until dear Agnes herself brought us together. Don't you
recollect how sweetly she wrote and begged me to be their friend. She
said that it would make him happier, and herself too--that she never
wished him to forget me; that it was through my influence that he had
been brought right and that they were no longer divided in faith. Oh,
Betty, I was a happy woman the day I got that letter, and I have been a
happy woman since. 'Through pain to peace,'" she went on softly, "I
should like those words to be inscribed on my tombstone. To think of
the terror and the struggle, the buffeting of all those cruel waves and
billows, and then to see land at last! Dearest, how you cry! You will
make me cry too, and I have been singing a Te Deum in my heart all day
for dear Lettice's sake." Then Elizabeth tried to control her sobs.

"Die, I am quite ashamed of myself. I cannot think what has come to me.
Think of a woman of thirty blubbering like a little school-girl! It is
not like me, is it, dear? but my heart feels as heavy as lead to-night.
Things are going wrong somehow, or is it my fancy?" And then she said a
little wildly, "Oh, my darling, if I were on