t upon the hope. She had given
her heart to Fred, and she indulged in many a secret dream for the
future while pursuing her little round of daily duties, and bearing
patiently with the spoilt and wayward Mittie.

And now--this had come!--this intimation of Fred's arrival, and the
chance of a long delightful day with him--a day on which so much might
hang!

And yet, if Mittie insisted on going, it would probably mean that she
would have to give it up. That would be hard to bear--all the harder
because Mittie knew at least something of the true state of affairs. She
knew how persistently Fred Ferris had come after her sister, and she
must at least conjecture a little of what her sister felt for Fred.
Nobody knew all that Joan felt, except Joan herself; but Mittie had seen
quite enough to have made her act kindly and unselfishly.

Joan's hopes had grown faint when she left the breakfast-table and went
upstairs.

Mrs. Wills spent most of her time in her bedroom, sometimes hobbling
across to a small sitting-room on the same floor. She was too infirm to
come downstairs.

"Eh? What is it? I don't understand!"

The old lady was growing deaf, and when she objected to what was being
said, she would become doubly deaf. Like her younger granddaughter, she
had always been accustomed to getting her own way.

[Sidenote: "Your Turn now!"]

"You want to do--what?" as Joan tried to explain. "I wish you would
speak more clearly, my dear, and not put your lips together when you
talk. Mrs. Ferris! Yes, of course I know Mrs. Ferris. I knew her long
before _you_ came here. She wants you for the day? Well, one of you can
go, and the other must stay with me. You've got to take turns. That is
only reasonable. Mittie went last time, so it is your turn now."

But Mittie never cared about turns.

"I suppose you couldn't for once--just once, Grannie, dear--spare us
both together?"

Joan said this with such a sinking of heart that, had the old lady known
it, she would surely have yielded. A sick fear had come over the girl
lest Fred might think that she was staying away on purpose--because she
did not want to see him. But she only looked rather white, and smiled as
usual.

"Spare you both! What!--leave me alone the whole day, both of you!" The
old lady was scandalised. "I didn't think before that you were a selfish
girl, Joan. Well, well, never mind!--you're not generally, I know. But
of course it is out of the question, so lame as I