back to her seat, overcome by that strange thrill of
repulsion which always troubled her at the approach of this girl.

"Who sent them?" she inquired, with a gleam of pleasure, as she saw the
exquisite bouquet, "who sent them?" and with a look half wistful, half
pleased, she reached out her hand. Agnes withheld the bouquet, smiling:

"I fear to give offence were I to part with it, even to you, madam. It
was intended for me, I believe."

Mabel drew back her hand, stung by the smile, and recoiling proudly from
any further question. A faint flush of self-reproach stole up to her
forehead, for her heart had leaped back twenty years, when rose buds
buried in fragrant leaves had been the mystic language by which her
heart read the pulses of another.

Agnes stood before her gazing down into the tiny bouquet with apparent
unconsciousness of the feelings she had aroused, and with a smile
quivering about her lips, she began blowing dreamily into the half open
bud, till it fluttered apart, and took an unhealthy bloom from her hot
breath.

"Don't--it will sicken and droop," said Mabel, who could never see a
flower rudely touched, without a sensation that it must feel a pang.

"But I shall have it in full bloom while it lasts," answered the
governess, "and when that is gone, more will come: I like things that
flash into a glow and out again."

Mabel was surprised; the girl, hitherto so retiring and quiet, had all
at once taken an air of authority. There was something in the speech
that shocked the heart more than the ear, and the sensitive woman felt a
thrill of pain as she saw Agnes tear off a leaf from the crimson
rose--place it between her lips--and fasten the cluster in her bosom.
The quiet self-possession with which she did all this was so unlike her
usual manner, that Mabel sat regarding her in silent astonishment.

When Agnes had arranged the flowers to her satisfaction, she looked up.

"I beg pardon," she said, "for intruding, but Mr. Harrington told me
that Lina was in here, and I hurried to join her, fearing that my walk
after breakfast had encroached on the hour for lessons."

"Miss Lina has just left me," answered Mrs. Harrington, coldly, but with
a quiver of the voice, "you will find her with my son somewhere about
the grounds, I fancy."

Agnes looked out of the window, casting sharp glances over that portion
of the grounds which it commanded.

"Oh," she said, "yes, it is a heavenly day--what a pity that y