opped sadly out of the talk,
or sat silent in her corner, he did not in his old kind fashion try to
include her in the conversation: indeed, he rarely noticed her, except
in his brief leave-taking. It hurt Mattie inexpressibly to be thus
ignored by her old friend, for from the first his cordiality had had a
sunshiny influence over her,--he had been so good to her, so
thoughtful for her comfort, before Grace came; but now he seemed to
forget sometimes that such a person as Mattie even existed. Was it
because Grace's fair, serious face had bewitched him, or was there
anything on his mind? for more than once Mattie thought he seemed
absent and ill at ease.

Mattie could not understand it at all. She was not a very acute little
person, neither was she over-sensitive by nature, but this sudden
coldness on Sir Harry's part was wounding and perplexing in the
extreme. Had she done anything to offend him? Mattie wondered, or was
he simply bored by her as most people were?

Once Archie had snubbed her very severely in his presence; something
had put him out, and he had spoken to Mattie as though no one were
present but their two selves. It was Grace who called him so gently to
order, and made him feel ashamed of himself. Sir Harry did not even
seem to notice it: he had a paper in his hand, and he went on reading
it. But as Mattie left the room she heard him speaking to Grace in
his usual way about some political question or other.

Mattie cried bitterly in her room that day. Somehow, she had never
taken Archie's snubbing so much to heart before. How could he speak to
her like that, she thought? What would Sir Harry think of her, and of
him too? Archie's conscience pricked him when he saw the traces of
tears on Mattie's face that afternoon, and he was very kind to her all
the remainder of the day; but he did not apologize for his words: no
one ever did apologize to Mattie. But to his surprise, and Grace's
too, Mattie's sad face did not clear.

It was her last afternoon but one at the vicarage, and Mattie was
sitting alone. All the morning she and Grace had been packing
together, for Grace, in her sensible way, had begged her sister not to
leave things for the last day. It would tire her for her journey, she
said; and the Challoners were coming to spend Mattie's last evening
with her at the vicarage; and there were the Middletons probably
coming for an afternoon visit, and so Mattie had better keep herself
free for her friends