ean well, and I don't intend to find fault
with you; but this sort of thing does not suit me; let us have no more
of it."

XXXVIII.

A BROKEN TRACE.

As soon as my grandmother heard that I was at Arden, she terminated her
visit abruptly, and returned home. When she saw me, she expressed the
opinion that my holiday had not been of any service to me. She did not
remember ever seeing me so greatly out of condition, and was of the
opinion that I ought to see the doctor.

"These watering places and islands," she said, "are just as likely to be
loaded down with malaria as any other place. In fact, I don't know but
it is just as well for our health for us to stay at home. That is, if we
live in a place like Arden."

I had no desire to conceal from this nearest and dearest friend and
relative the real cause of my appearance, and I laid before her all the
facts concerning Sylvia and myself.

She was not affected as I supposed she would be. In fact, my narrative
appeared to relieve her mind of some of her anxieties.

"Any way," she remarked, after a moment or two of consideration, "this
is better than malaria. If you get anything of that kind into your
system, it is probable that you will never get it out, and it is at any
time likely to affect your health, one way or another; but love affairs
are different. They have a powerful influence upon a person, as I well
know, but there is not about them that insidious poison, which, although
you may think you have entirely expelled it from your system, is so
likely to crop out again, especially in the spring and fall."

To this I made no answer but a sigh. What was the good of saying that,
in my present state of mind, health was a matter of indifference to me?

"I am not altogether surprised," continued my grandmother, "that that
secretary business turned out in this way. If it had been any other
young woman, I should have advised against it, but Sylvia Raynor is a
good match,--good in every way; and I thought that if her working with
you had made you like her, and had made her like you, it might be very
well; but I am sure it never entered my mind that if you did come to
like each other she would choose the sisterhood instead of you. I knew
that she was not then a full sister, and I hadn't the slightest doubt
that if you two really did fall in love with each other she would leave
the House of Martha as soon as her time was up. You must not think, my
dear boy," she co