g misunderstood. In
one breath I resented, with all the ardor of my soul, the impertinence
of the world's judgment, and in the next I declared to myself that I did
not care; that conscious innocence should sustain me, and that I had a
right to do the best I could for myself and child.

"But that was only sham courage. I was morally a coward, and could not
possibly face the evil spirit of detraction. Therefore, the morning
found me feverish in body and faint in spirit. I kept out of sight of my
boarders, except Mr. Seabrook, who looked into the kitchen with a
sympathizing face, and inquired very kindly after Bennie, as he
pet-named Benton. When my dinner was over that day, I asked the little
German woman to keep the child until I could go on an errand, and went
over to Mrs. ----, my old house-mate, to get advice.

"Do you know how much advice is worth? If you like it, you haven't needed
it; and if you do not like it, you will not take it. Mrs. ---- told me
that if she were in my place, as if she _could be_ in my place! she would
get rid of all her troubles by getting some man to take charge of her and
her affairs. When I asked, with transparent duplicity, where I was to
find a man for this service, she laughed in my face. People _did_ talk
so then, and what Mr. Seabrook said was the unexaggerated truth. It did
not occur to me to examine into the authorship of the rumors; I was too
shrinking and sensitive for that.

"When I reached home I found Mr. Seabrook at the house. A sudden feeling
of anger flashed into my mind, and must have illuminated my eyes; for he
gave me one deprecating glance, and immediately went out. This made me
fear I was unjust to him. That evening he did not come to tea, but sent
me a note saying he had business at Vancouver and would not return for
two or three days; but that when he did return it would be better to
have my mind made up to dismiss him entirely out of the country, or to
have our engagement made known.

"That threw the whole responsibility upon me; and it was, as he knew it
would be, too heavy for my twenty-three years to carry. To lose the most
helpful and agreeable friend I had in the country, to banish him for no
fault but being too kind to me, or to take him in place of one whose
image would always stand between us: that was the alternative.

"The next day an incident occurred that decided my destiny. I had to go
out to make some purchases for the house. At the store where I usu