was quite
horrified to remember that she had invited me to stay with her at the Du
Taine place near Johannesburg. But she said that if I liked she would not
tell the class."

"I have no fear of the rest of the class. They have honour, and good
feeling, and warm hearts. What was your reply to Greta's obliging
proposition?"

"I told her that the sooner everybody knew the better; and I went out of
the room, and came to you--as I always do--as I always have done, ever
since----"

Her voice broke in the first sob.

"_Ah!_" cried the voice of the mother-heart she crept to, as the long arms
in the loose black serge sleeves went out and folded her close, "_ah, if I
might be always here for you to run to! But God knows best!_"

She said aloud, gently putting the girl away:

"Well, the ordeal is over, and will not have to be gone through again. And
for the future, bear in mind that every human being has a right to regard
his own business--or hers--as private, and to exclude the curious from
affairs which do not concern them." She reached out quick tender hands,
and framed the wistful, sensitive face in them, and added, in a lower
tone: "For a little told may beget in them the desire to know more. And
always remember this: that the only just claim to your perfect confidence
in all that concerns your past life, and I say _all_ with meaning"--the
girl's white eyelids fell under her earnest gaze, and the delicate lips
began to quiver--"will rest in the man--the honourable and brave and
worthy gentleman--who I pray may one day be your husband."

"No!" she cried out sharply as if in terror, and the slight figure was
shaken by a sudden spasm of trembling. "Oh, Mother, no! Never, never!"

With a gesture of infinite pity and tenderness the Mother drew her close,
and hid the shame-dyed face upon her bosom, and whispered, with her lips
upon the red-brown hair:

"My lamb, my dearest, my poor, poor child! It shall be never if you
choose, Lynette. But make no rash vows, no determinations that you think
irrevocable. Leave the future to God. Now dry these dear eyes, and put old
thoughts and memories of sorrow and of wrong most resolutely away from
you. Be happy, as Our Lord meant all innocent creatures of His to be. And
do not be tempted to magnify Greta's offence against friendship. She has
acted according to her lights, and if they are of the kind that shine in
marshy places, a better Light will shine upon her path one day. I know