he difference in their temperaments the two were really
attached to each other, and though Keith might not be demonstrative, he
tolerated Aldred's devotion when they were strictly alone, though he
would not allow her, as he expressed it, to "make an exhibition of him
before other fellows".

Poor Aldred! She had a very warm and loving heart, and a perpetual
hunger for affection that, so far, had failed to be entirely satisfied.
Since the day, seven years before, when her mother had started on that
long journey from which none return, nobody had seemed to understand her
quite, or to know how to manage her aright. Her father, a clever
barrister who went daily from Dingfield into London, was too absorbed in
his profession to give much time or sympathy to his children. Having
sent his son to school, and provided a daily governess for his daughter,
he felt that he had done all that was required of him. The masters at
Stavebury were responsible for Keith, and as for Aldred, if anything
more was needful for her upbringing than Miss Perkins could give, surely
his sister, who managed his house so admirably, could look after his
motherless girl?

Unfortunately, though Aunt Bertha had great experience and excellent
skill in the making of jams and the care of linen, she had no aptitude
for the handling of human souls. She was a stout, bustling,
unimaginative, prosaic person, without an atom of romance or sentiment
in her composition. A nature such as Aldred's was beyond her
comprehension. She tried to do her best for the child, but it was such
an unsympathetic best that it had the unhappy effect of setting a
barrier between herself and her niece which neither seemed able to pass.
Long and lucidly would Aunt Bertha reason and expound, and enjoin habits
of neatness, order, and punctuality. All to no purpose! Arguments never
appealed to Aldred. She would listen with an air of don't-care
indifference, and do just the same next time. Yet if her aunt could have
given her one warm kiss, the battle would have been won. It was a sad
pity, for the girl had in reality a very sweet disposition, though at
present it was like a neglected garden, where a few choice blossoms
might be found, struggling with ugly weeds that threatened sometimes
almost to strangle the flowers.

The precise governess carefully chosen by Aunt Bertha had not helped
matters. She found her pupil bright indeed, but only ready to work by
fits and starts, and quite unmoved