the Dominion that day on Starcross Moor. It is not so very long ago,
and yet life has greatly changed and taught us much since then. You must
not be vain about it, but I really think I prefer you now."

She strove to avoid my answer, which was an active one, and then settled
to grave attention when I said: "You were always the same, Grace,
unequaled among women. I was very raw and foolish, but you have helped me,
and experience in these new lands teaches even fools. Now, however, I am
chiefly lonely--and Fairmead is waiting for you."

"I wish to know my duty," said Grace. "I still think and think until my
brain grows tired, and yet I cannot see it clearly. As I told the others,
the Manor is an undesirable inheritance; but I am its mistress, and it
brings heavy charges with it, a load of debt among them, which it would
seem cruel to leave my aunt to grapple with. If we sold it there would be
nothing left for her, and even that might not be possible while my father
lives. Ralph, dear, he was once very kind to me, and it is hard that I can
do so little to help him."

She sighed, and looking at me wearily made no answer to my further
pleading, until, as it happened, Miss Carrington, preceded by a very
awkward Scandinavian maid, entered the room with a tray on which was
placed the Russian tea and dainties for which the house was famous.

"You looked in need of refreshment, Ralph, when you came in," she said.
"There have been changes at the Manor, but we have not forsaken all our
ancient customs."

She was, as Aline said, "a dear old lady," sweet of face, yet stately,
though now she looked careworn too; and rising I bowed respectfully, as,
acting under one of those sudden impulses which are sometimes better than
judgment, I said:

"I hope you will believe that no one regrets the changes more than I do,
and it is only trusting in your kindness that I venture to look for a
welcome here. There cannot be many who would so kindly receive one who
even against his will has been indirectly connected with your troubles.
Besides, I have been abusing your generosity further by trying to persuade
Grace to desert you, and, strangest of all, I ask you to help me."

Grace blushed, and her aunt sat silent for a while.

"I am glad you told me," she then answered quietly, "for I have been
thinking what she ought to do. I wondered now and then that my niece did
not ask me, and I am going to tell my thoughts to both of you. There is a
wi