e laid a detaining hand on her arm,
and said--

"It is very good of you to come."

"I would have come before if I had been able--and if you had wanted me."

"You are always welcome," said Hubert. But his tone was languid, and his
eyes did not meet her own.

"Hubert, are you well enough to have a little talk with me--a sort of
business conversation?"

"Certainly, Enid. I am really quite well now." There was still no
alacrity in his reply.

"And you wrote to me, saying that I had not written----"

"And you had not--for a month or more," said he, smiling a little more
frankly into her face. "Was I wrong?"

"Did you expect me to write?"

"Yes, certainly. Why not?"

"You did not think that I should believe what your sister has been
saying?" Enid asked.

"Flossy? What does she say?"

"Miss West has not told you? Of course she knows; for she was here when
Mrs. Vane and the General called."

"I suppose that everything disagreeable has been kept from me," said
Hubert, after little pause. "I know that there is a pile of letters
which my nurses will not let me read. Tell me what has been going on."

"I am sorry to have to say disagreeable things to you," said Enid
softly. "It will not make you ill again, will it, Hubert?"

"Out with it! It won't matter!" said Hubert, in a rather impatient tone.
"What do you want to say?"

"Nothing to make your pulse throb and your face flush in that manner,"
she answered, sitting down beside him and laying her cool fingers on his
wrist. "Dear Hubert, I have no bad news for you, though I may say one or
two things that sound disagreeable. Please don't excite yourself in this
way, or I must go away."

"No, no--you must speak out now; it will do me no harm. What is it?"

"Flossy saw Miss West here. She was displeased by her presence. Uncle
Richard believed every word that his wife said, and was led to think
that Cynthia West was a wicked designing creature who wanted to marry
you. You can imagine what Florence would say and what uncle Richard
would believe."

"I can indeed! And did she come here and say this to Cynthia?"

"She said a great deal, I believe. She tried to make Cynthia go
away--Uncle Richard told me; and--shall I tell you everything,
Hubert?--he said that you would not be 'led astray' for very long, and
that I should find that you were true--true to me."

"Enid, did you believe him?"

"I don't know exactly what I believed. It seemed to me that Cynthia West
ha