aged to
each other, until Miss Prince's long-banished niece came to put a new
suspicion into everybody's mind.

Many times when George Gerry had a new proof that he had somehow
fallen into the habit of walking home with the pleasant girl who was
his friend and neighbor, he had told himself abruptly that there was
no danger in it, and that they never could have any other feeling for
each other. But he had begun to think also that she belonged to him in
some vague way, and sometimes acknowledged that it might be a thing to
consider more deeply by and by. He was only twenty-six, and the world
was still before him, but he was not very sympathetic with other
people's enthusiasm over their love affairs, and wondered if it were
not largely a matter of temperament, though by and by he should like
to have a home of his own.

He was somewhat attracted toward Miss Prince, the younger, for her
aunt's sake, and had made up his mind that he would be very attentive
to her, no matter how displeasing and uninteresting she might be: it
was sure to be a time of trial to his old friend, and he would help
all he could to make the visit as bearable as possible. Everybody knew
of the niece's existence who had known the Prince family at all, and
though Miss Prince had never mentioned the unhappy fact until the day
or two before her guest was expected, her young cavalier had behaved
with most excellent discretion, and feigning neither surprise nor
dismay, accepted the announcement in a way that had endeared him still
more to his patroness.

But on the first Sunday morning, when a most admirable young lady had
walked up the broad aisle of St. Ann's church, and Mr. Gerry had
caught a glimpse of her between the rows of heads which all looked
commonplace by contrast, it seemed to begin a new era of things. This
was a welcome link with the busier world outside Dunport; this was
what he had missed since he had ended his college days, a gleam of
cosmopolitan sunshine, which made the provincial fog less attractive
than ever. He was anxious to claim companionship with this fair
citizen of a larger world, and to disclaim any idea of belonging to
the humdrum little circle which exaggerated its own importance. He
persuaded himself that he must pay Miss Prince's guest an early visit.
It was very exciting and interesting altogether; and as he watched the
flicker of light in our heroine's hair as she sat on the straight sofa
in her aunt's parlor on the Su