-I can't!'

'Ah, then you own there is something to tell?'

'What have I said? Flossie, forget what I said; it slipped out. I meant
nothing.'

'And you are perfectly happy and satisfied, are you? _Now_, I know how
people look when they are perfectly happy and satisfied.'

'It's no use!' cried Ella, suddenly. 'I've tried, and tried, and tried
to bear it, but I can't. I _must_ tell somebody ... it is making me ill.
I am getting cross and wicked, and unlike what I used to be. Flossie, I
can't go and live there--I dread the thought of it; I shrink from it
more and more every day! It is all odious, impossible--and yet I must, I
must!'

'No, you mustn't; and, what's more, you shan't!'

'Flossie, you mean you will tell mother! You must not, do you hear? If
you do, it will only make matters worse. Oh, why did I tell you?' cried
Ella, in shame at this lapse from all her heroism. 'Promise me you will
say nothing to mother--it is too late now--promise!'

'Very well,' said Flossie reluctantly; 'then I promise. But, all the
same, Ella, I think you're a great goose!'

'I didn't promise I wouldn't say anything to _George_, though,' she
reflected; and so, on the very next occasion that she caught him alone,
she availed herself of an innocent allusion of his to Ella's low
spirits to give him the benefit of her candid opinion, which was not
tempered by any marked consideration for his feelings.

Ella was in the morning-room alone--she had taken to sitting alone
lately, brooding over her trials. She was no heroine, after all; her
mind, it is to be feared, was far from superior. She was finding out
that she had undertaken too heavy a task; she could not console herself
for her lost dream of a charmingly appointed house. She might endure to
live in such a home as George had made for her; but to be expected to
admire it, to let it be understood that it was her handiwork, that she
had chosen or approved of it--this was the burden that was crushing her.

Suddenly the door opened and George stood before her. His expression was
so altered that she scarcely recognised him; all the cheery buoyancy had
vanished, and his stern, set face had a dignity and character in it now
that were wanting before.

'I have just had a talk with Flossie,' he began; 'she has shown me what
a--what a mistake I've been making.'

Ella could not help feeling a certain relief, though she said, 'It was
very wrong of Flossie--she had no right to speak.'

'She