I shall not come,' said Miss Anne coldly.

The widow looked unhappily in her daughter's face, distressed between her
desire that Anne should encourage Festus, and her wish to consult Anne's
own feelings.

'Leave her alone, leave her alone,' said Festus, his gaze blackening.
'Now I think of it I am glad she can't come with me, for I am engaged;'
and he stalked away.

Anne moved on with her mother, young Loveday silently following, and they
began to descend the hill.

'Well, where's Mr. Loveday?' asked Mrs. Garland.

'Father's behind,' said John.

Mrs. Garland looked behind her solicitously; and the miller, who had been
waiting for the event, beckoned to her.

'I'll overtake you in a minute,' she said to the younger pair, and went
back, her colour, for some unaccountable reason, rising as she did so.
The miller and she then came on slowly together, conversing in very low
tones, and when they got to the bottom they stood still. Loveday and
Anne waited for them, saying but little to each other, for the rencounter
with Festus had damped the spirits of both. At last the widow's private
talk with Miller Loveday came to an end, and she hastened onward, the
miller going in another direction to meet a man on business. When she
reached the trumpet-major and Anne she was looking very bright and rather
flurried, and seemed sorry when Loveday said that he must leave them and
return to the camp. They parted in their usual friendly manner, and Anne
and her mother were left to walk the few remaining yards alone.

'There, I've settled it,' said Mrs. Garland. 'Anne, what are you
thinking about? I have settled in my mind that it is all right.'

'What's all right?' said Anne.

'That you do not care for Derriman, and mean to encourage John Loveday.
What's all the world so long as folks are happy! Child, don't take any
notice of what I have said about Festus, and don't meet him any more.'

'What a weathercock you are, mother! Why should you say that just now?'

'It is easy to call me a weathercock,' said the matron, putting on the
look of a good woman; 'but I have reasoned it out, and at last, thank
God, I have got over my ambition. The Lovedays are our true and only
friends, and Mr. Festus Derriman, with all his money, is nothing to us at
all.'

'But,' said Anne, 'what has made you change all of a sudden from what you
have said before?'

'My feelings and my reason, which I am thankful for!'

Anne knew that her moth