n, it's
inhospitable, when Lily wants you to, so! Why, I never heard of such a
thing!"

Elmore desperately caught up the sheet of paper on which Lily had
written "Dear Mr. Hoskins," and groaning out "Well, well!" he added,--

I have your letter. Come to the station to-morrow and say good-by
to her whom you will yet live to thank for remaining only

Your friend,
ELIZABETH MAYHEW.

"There! there, that will do beautifully--beautifully! Oh, thank you,
Professor Elmore, ever and ever so much! That will save his feelings,
and do everything," said Lily, sitting down again to copy it; while Mrs.
Elmore, looking over her shoulder, mingled her hysterical excitement
with the girl's, and helped her out by sealing the note when it was
finished and directed.

It accomplished at least one purpose intended. It kept Hoskins away till
the final moment, and it brought him to the station for their adieux
just before their train started. A consciousness of the absurdity of his
part gave his face a humorously rueful cast. But he came pluckily to the
mark. He marched straight up to the girl. "It's all right, Miss Lily,"
he said, and offered her his hand, which she had a strong impulse to cry
over. Then he turned to Mrs. Elmore, and while he held her hand in his
right, he placed his left affectionately on Elmore's shoulder, and,
looking at Lily, he said, "You ought to get Miss Lily to help you out
with your history, Professor; she has a very good style,--quite a
literary style, I should have said, if I hadn't known it was hers. I
don't like her subjects, though." They broke into a forlorn laugh
together; he wrung their hands once more, without a word, and, without
looking back, limped out of the waiting-room and out of their lives.

They did not know that this was really the last of Hoskins,--one never
knows that any parting is the last,--and in their inability to conceive
of a serious passion in him, they quickly consoled themselves for what
he might suffer. They knew how kindly, how tenderly even, they felt
towards him, and by that juggle with the emotions which we all practise
at times, they found comfort for him in the fact. Another interest,
another figure, began to occupy the morbid fancy of Elmore, and as they
approached Peschiera his expectation became intense. There was no reason
why it should exist; it would be by the t