Forgive me!"

"Forgive you, my dear? There is nothing to forgive!" said the astonished
General, in a slightly reproving tone. "Of course I do not like your
staying out so late on a winter afternoon, but you need not make such a
fuss about it, my child. You must control yourself, control yourself,
you know. There, there--don't cry! What will Mr. Evandale think of you?
Why, bless me, Evandale has gone! Well, well, you need not cry--I am not
angry at all--only stop crying--there's a good girl!"

"Say you forgive me, uncle!" moaned Enid, heedless of his rather
disconnected remarks, which certainly had no bearing at all on the
dilemma forced upon her by the nature of Mrs. Meldreth's confession.

"Forgive you, my dear? Why, of course I do! You're a little upset, are
you not? But you must not give way like this--it'll never do--never do,"
said the General, patting her on the back benevolently. "There now--dry
your eyes, like a good girl; and I think I hear the carriage in the
lane, so we must be going. You've no idea how anxious about you poor
dear Flossy has been all the afternoon."

He was pleased to see that her tears were checked. She raised herself
from his shoulder and brushed away the salt drops with which her cheeks
were wet; but she sobbed no longer, and she stood perfectly still and
calm. He was not a man of keen observation; and, if the cold white look
which suddenly overspread her countenance had any meaning, it was not
one that he was likely to read aright.

A servant brought the intelligence that the carriage was at the door,
and shortly afterwards the Rector appeared. He had slipped away when
Enid burst into tears, hoping that she might confide to the General what
she had refused to confide to him; but a glance at the faces of the two
told him that his hopes had not been realised. The kindly complacency
which characterised the General's countenance was undisturbed, while
Enid's face bore the impress of mingled perplexity and despair. It
seemed to Maurice Evandale that each expression would have been changed
if Enid had bared her heart to her uncle. He did not know--he could not
even guess--what her secret was; but he instinctively detected the
presence of trouble, perhaps of danger.

The two men parted very cordially; for the General was deterred from
seeing much of the Rector only by Mrs. Vane's dislike of him, and his
kindly feeling was all the more effusive because he had so few
opportunities of express