gathered from Mrs. Jarvis that somehow Miss Gordon was offended with
him. He was not conscious of any offense given, and hoped to hear from
her that their relations were as friendly as when she had left the
city. In which case he hoped to meet Dr. Gordon at his office not
later than Thursday, when the final arrangements for his work would be
made.

Elizabeth scarcely noticed the polite closing of the letter. Her heart
was beating to suffocation. She was dazzled by the prospect that had
suddenly opened before her. To accept meant to gain everything the
world could give to make her happy; her home secured, John established
in his profession, her aunt content. Then she thought of the sermon in
St. Stephen's Church with its call to a higher life, of Mother
MacAllister's words concerning One Who had Himself trod a thorny path
and Whose true disciple must be content to follow.

She looked up and saw her aunt's eyes fixed upon her in intense
eagerness.

"Your letter is from Mrs. Jarvis?" Miss Gordon could not keep the
painful anxiety from showing in her face.

"Yes," faltered Elizabeth. She did not offer to show it, as had been
her habit in the old days. Miss Gordon turned away with a hurt,
grieved air. "Of course," she said coldly, "I must not ask for your
confidence, Elizabeth. I find it hard to remember that you do not
consult me any more in your affairs."

"Oh, Aunt Margaret!" cried the girl brokenly. It was the cry of a
motherless child appealing for its rights to the one who had, in spite
of all deficiencies, filled a mother's place in her life. "Here,--read
them both. I do want your advice." She shoved both letters into her
aunt's hands as she spoke. Then she rose and fled upstairs to her
little room. Something told her that in that act she had put away from
herself the power to choose; that she had turned her back upon the
Vision.

CHAPTER XVIII

DARKNESS

And so, once more Elizabeth failed. This time the world did not
recognize the failure as such, and it was regarded by her family, and
especially by her aunt, as the highest success. But Elizabeth knew;
that wiser inner self, always sternly honest, called her action by its
right name. On the very evening she wrote Mrs. Jarvis, promising to
return, she felt the full bitterness of failure. For at family worship
her father read from the life of that One whom she had, for a brief
time, tried to follow. The Man of Nazareth had been sh