ore because of
me. Never let him suspect the truth. He has such a tender heart that
it would trouble him sorely if he knew that I had discovered his secret,
and I don't want any shadow on our friendship. Promise me, Una, that
you will never let him know."

"I promise, Rachel. I had made up my mind about that long ago."

I did not tell her that in making my decision I had considered her
feelings, not his. I had imagined that for her pride's sake she would
not wish him to know her real reasons for breaking off the engagement.
But Rachel herself had no thought of her pride; her anxiety was simply
and wholly for Will's comfort.

I looked up at her in a passion of admiration, and in that moment a
question which had tormented me for weeks past seemed to find its
solution.

"Rachel," I cried, "I know now why this has happened! I have been
wondering how anyone so good and unselfish as you could be allowed to
have such a trouble as this, and how it could be for the best that you
are passed over for a creature like me, but I can understand now. You
are too valuable to be shut up in just one home; so many people need
you--you can help so wonderfully all round that you are kept free for
the general good. The world needs you. You belong to the world."

Her face lit up with happiness.

"Oh, Una, what a lovely thought! I shall remember that, and it will be
such a comfort. Kiss me, dear. I am so glad that it is you. I am so
thankful that Will has chosen someone whom I can love."

We talked a good deal more, and she said a lot of lovely things that I
shall remember all my life. It was as though she were giving over the
charge of Will into my hands, and they are such hasty incapable hands
that they need all the guiding they can get. She told, me all about him
as she had known him all these years--his good qualities, which I was to
encourage; his weaknesses, which I was to discourage; his faults, (ah!
Will dear, they were nothing compared to mine), which I was to help him
to fight. She looked upon it all so seriously, that marriage seemed to
become a terrible as well as a beautiful thing. Can it really be true
that I have such wonderful power to influence Will for good or evil?
Oh, I must be good, I must, I must, for his welfare is fifty thousand
times dearer to me than my own!

After this I was constantly at the Grange, and worked like a charwoman
helping to pack, and getting ready for the sale. I think I was r