retending to sew,
until the silence grew too oppressive, and they spoke of the matter that
was in their hearts. It was one of the bitterest evenings in Mr.
Merrill's life, and there is no need to linger on it. They talked
earnestly of Cynthia, and of her future. But they both knew why she did
not come down to them.

"So she is really going to Coniston," said Mr. Merrill.

"Yes," answered Mrs. Merrill, "and I think she is doing right, Stephen."

Mr. Merrill groaned. His wife rose and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Come, Stephen," she said gently, "you will see her in the morning.

"I will go to Coniston with her," he said.

"No," replied Mrs. Merrily "she wants to go alone. And I believe it is
best that she should."

CHAPTER XII

Great afflictions generally bring in their train a host of smaller
sorrows, each with its own little pang. One of these sorrows had been the
parting with the Merrill family. Under any circumstance it was not easy
for Cynthia to express her feelings, and now she had found it very
difficult to speak of the gratitude and affection which she felt. But
they understood--dear, good people that they were: no eloquence was
needed with them. The ordeal of breakfast over, and the tearful "God
bless you, Miss Cynthia," of Ellen the parlor-maid, the whole family had
gone with her to the station. For Susan and Jane had spent their last day
at Miss Sadler's school.

Mr. Merrill had sent for the conductor and bidden him take care of Miss
Wetherell, and recommend her in his name to a conductor on the Truro
Road. The man took off his cap to Mr. Merrill and called him by name and
promised. It was a dark day, and long after the train had pulled out
Cynthia remembered the tearful faces of the family standing on the damp
platform of the station. As they fled northward through the flat
river-meadows, the conductor would have liked to talk to her of Mr.
Merrill; there were few employees on any railroad who did not know the
genial and kindly president of the Grand Gulf and sympathize with his
troubles. But there was a look on the girl's face that forbade intrusion.
Passengers stared at her covertly, as though fascinated by that look, and
some tried to fathom it. But her eyes were firmly fixed upon a point far
beyond their vision. The car stopped many times, and flew on again, but
nothing seemed to break her absorption.

At last she was aroused by the touch of the conductor on her sleeve. The
people we