family were standing together
and commenting upon his sudden departure.

It was not sudden, he said, trying to explain. He really had thought
seriously of going yesterday, and feeling that he had something to atone
for, he tried to be unusually gracious as he shook their hands, thanking
them for their kindness, but seeming wholly oblivious to Aunt Betsy's
remark that "she hoped to see him again, if not at Silverton, in New
York, where she wanted dreadfully to visit, but never had on account
of the 'bominable prices charged to the taverns, and she hadn't no
acquaintances there."

This was Aunt Betsy's parting remark, and after Katy, simple-hearted
Aunt Betsy liked Wilford Cameron better than any one of the group which
watched him as he drove rapidly from their door. Aunt Hannah thought him
too much stuck up for farmer's folks, while Mrs. Lennox, whose ambition
would have accounted him a most desirable match for her daughter, could
not deny that his manner toward them, though polite in the extreme, was
that of a superior to people greatly beneath him; while Helen, who saw
clearer than the rest, read him tolerably aright, and detected the
struggle between his pride and his love for poor little Katy, whom she
found sitting on the floor, just where Wilford left her standing, her
head resting on the chair and her face hidden in her hands as she sobbed
quietly, hardly knowing why she cried or what to answer when Helen asked
what was the matter.

"It was so queer in him to go so soon," she said; "just as if he were
offended about something."

"Never mind, Katy," Helen said, soothingly. "If he's for you he will come
back again. He could not stay here always, of course; and I must say I
respect him for attending to his business, if he has any. He has been
gone from home for weeks, you know."

This was Helen's reasoning; but it did not comfort Katy, whose face
looked white and sad, as she moved listlessly about the house, almost
crying again when she beard in the distance the whistle of the train
which was to carry Wilford Cameron away, and end his first visit to
Silverton.

CHAPTER VI.

IN THE SPRING.

Katy Lennox had been very sick, and the bed where Wilford slept had
stood in the parlor during the long weeks while the obstinate fever ran
its course; but she was better now, and sat nearly all day before the
fire, sometimes trying to crochet a little, and again turning over the
books which Morris had brought t