ll extant leaving her this property, with a portion to me, but it will
be a long struggle to free the land from its creditors, and my poor
brother may live as he is for years. He has been mercifully spared all
further anxiety, and I hope that he will. I am old, and my day has long
gone by. Grace is young, with the world before her; and it is neither
right nor necessary that she should put away all hope of happiness
indefinitely. There is only one time when the joy of life is more real
than its sorrows. With kinsman Lyle's counsel, and Foster to work the
land, I can hold the Manor and care for my brother, and for both to remain
here would be a useless sacrifice. So if you love her, as I believe you
do, it is right that you should enjoy together what is sent you. Grace
should go to you."

I had passed my younger days among a homely people, and had been taught
little except what I learned in the silence of the mountains and on the
wide prairie, and yet I think it was without awkwardness that I bent over
Miss Carrington's hand. Speech would hardly have expressed the gratitude
and respect I felt, while I recognize now that the motive of the action
was in her and not in me. Then I turned to her niece and waited with
longing in my eyes until Grace, who had changed to her softest mood and
was now only a blushing girl, said simply:

"You have made it easy, Aunt. Ralph, I will come."

"That is right," said Miss Carrington. "Ralph, you have waited patiently,
and I can trust you to be kind to her." Then she smiled upon us as she
added: "If not, I take my brother's place, and you shall answer for it.
There is still a Carrington at the Manor holding authority. And so, to
turn to the practical, if either of you can consider such prosaic things
as tea, it is growing cold already, and it is a pity to waste the
Carrington tea."

The tea was not wasted. We are only creatures of flesh and blood,
thankful, the wiser among us, for the transitory glimmer of romance that
brightens our work-a-day lot, and gives some much-needed strength to
grapple with it, and I had ridden far after a night spent in the open and
a hard morning's work. So I accepted what was offered, and found it
delicious to rest in that pretty room, where the last of the sunlight
sparkled on the silver and lit up the sweet face of the lady who beamed
upon us. Again it seemed almost too good to be true, and hard to believe,
that victory had crowned the struggle, while even a