id her father. "You must not
make so much of these things, Sheila. It is a pity--yes, it is a ferry
great pity--your husband and you will hef a quarrel; but it iss no
uncommon thing for these troubles to happen; and I am coming to you
this morning, not to make any more trouble, but to see if it cannot be
put right again. And I do not want to know any more than that, and I
will not blame any one; but if I wass to see Mr. Lavender--"

A bitter anger had filled his heart from the moment he had learned how
matters stood, and yet he was talking in such a bland, matter-of-fact,
almost cheerful fashion that his own daughter was imposed upon, and
began to grow comforted. The mere fact that her father now knew of all
her troubles, and was not disposed to take a very gloomy view of them,
was of itself a great relief to her. And she was greatly pleased, too,
to hear her father talk in the same light and even friendly fashion of
her husband. She had dreaded the possible results of her writing home
and relating what had occurred. She knew the powerful passion of which
this lonely old man was capable, and if he had come suddenly down
South with a wild desire to revenge the wrongs of his daughter, what
might not have happened?

Sheila sat down, and with averted eyes told her father the whole
story, ingenuously making all possible excuses for her husband, and
intimating strongly that the more she looked over the history of the
past time the more she was convinced that she was herself to blame. It
was but natural that Mr. Lavender should like to live in the manner to
which he had been accustomed. She had tried to live that way too, and
the failure to do so was surely her fault. He had been very kind to
her. He was always buying her new dresses, jewelry, and what not, and
was always pleased to take her to be amused anywhere. All this she
said, and a great deal more; and although Mr. Mackenzie did not
believe the half of it, he did not say so. "Ay, ay, Sheila," he said,
cheerfully; "but if everything was right like that, what for will you
be here?"

"But everything was not right, papa," the girl said, still with her
eyes cast down. "I could not live any longer like that, and I had to
come away. That is my fault, and I could not help it. And there was
a--a misunderstanding between us about Mairi's visit--for I had said
nothing about it--and he was surprised--and he had some friends coming
to see us that day--"

"Oh, well, there iss no