quietly dispatched the Scotchman's
belongings. That evening Sir Ronald departed for Quebec, to take passage
for Liverpool.

CHAPTER XX.

BEARING THE CROSS.

The dead blank that comes after excitement of any kind is very trying to
bear. The dull flow of monotonous life, following the departure of the
Scotch baronet, told severely on Kate. The feverish excitement of that
brief second engagement had sustained her, and kindled a brighter fire
in her blue eyes, and a hot glow on her pale cheeks. But in the stagnant
quiet that succeeded, the light grew dim, the roses faded, and the old
lassitude and weariness returned. She had not even the absorbing task of
playing amateur Sister of Charity, for the fever was almost gone, and
there was no more left for her to do.

There was no scandal or _eclat_ this time about the broken-off marriage,
for it had been kept very secret--only in the kitchen-cabinet there were
endless surmisings and wonderings.

The wedding garments made for the second time for Miss Danton were for
the second time put quietly away.

Father Francis, in all his visits to Danton Hall, never made the
slightest allusion to the event that had taken place. Only, he laid his
hand on Kate's drooping head, with a "Heaven bless you, my child!" so
fervently uttered that she felt repaid for all the humiliation she had
undergone.

So very quietly at Danton Hall December wore away, and Christmas-eve
dawned, Grace Danton's wedding-day. About ten in the morning the large,
roomy, old-fashioned family sleigh drove up before the front door, and
the bridal party entered, and were whirled to the church. A very select
party indeed; the bride and bridegroom, the bride's brother, and the
bridegroom's two daughters.

Grace's brown velvet bonnet, brown silk dress, and seal jacket were not
exactly the prescribed attire for a bride; but with the hazel hair,
smooth and shining, and the hazel eyes full of happy light, Grace looked
very sweet and fair.

Eeny, in pale silk and a pretty hat with a long white plume, looked fair
as a lily and happy as a queen, and very proud of her post of
bride-maid.

And Kate, who was carrying her cross bravely now, very simply attired,
sat beside Doctor Frank and tried to listen and be interested in what he
was saying, and all the time feeling like one in some unnatural dream.
She saw the dull, gray, sunless sky, speaking of coming storm, the
desolate snow-covered fields, the quiet village