nd to write
that last line; I will scratch it out. You will not be angry, dear. I am
too wretched to know what I am writing, and I want to lie down.
'Always affectionately yours,
'MAY GOULD.'

Outside the air was limpid with sunlight, and the newly mown meadow was
golden in the light of evening. The autumn-coloured foliage of the
chestnuts lay mysteriously rich and still, harmonizing in measured tones
with the ruddy tints of the dim September sunset. The country dozed as
if satiated with summer love. Heavy scents were abroad--the pungent
odours of the aftermath. A high baritone voice broke the languid
silence, and, in embroidered smoking-jacket and cap, Mr. Barton twanged
his guitar. Milord had been thrown down amid the hay; and Mrs. Barton
and Olive were showering it upon him. The old gentleman's legs were in
the air.

Crushing the letter, Alice's hands fell on the table; she burst into
tears. But work was more vital than tears; and, taking up her pen, she
continued her story--penny journal fiction of true love and unending
happiness in the end. A month later she received this note:

'DEAREST,
'Just a line in pencil--I mustn't sit up--to tell you it is all over,
and all I said was "Thank God, thank God!" over and over again, as each
pain went. It is such a relief; but I mustn't write much. It is such a
funny screwed-up-looking baby, and I don't feel any of those maternal
sentiments that you read about--at least not yet. And it always cries
just when I am longing to go to sleep. Thank you again and again for all
you have done for me and been to me. I feel awfully weak.
'Always affectionately yours,
'MAY GOULD.'

XXIV

Then Alice heard that the baby was dead, and that a little money would
be required to bury it. Another effort was made, the money was sent; and
the calm of the succeeding weeks was only disturbed by an uneasy desire
to see May back in Galway, and hear her say that her terrible secret was
over and done with for ever. One day she was startled by a quick
trampling of feet in the corridor, and May rushed into the room. She
threw herself into Alice's arms and kissed her with effusion, with
tears. The girls looked at each other long and nervously. One was pale
and over-worn, her spare figure was buttoned into a faded dr