en?"

"Age doesn't make any difference," answered Mrs. Rutherford, still
tearful. "And you are very rich, Evert."

"Garda Thorne doesn't care in the least about money," responded
Winthrop, shortly, turning away.

"She ought to, then," rejoined Mrs. Rutherford, drying her eyes with a
soft pressure of the handkerchief, so that the lids should not be
reddened. "In fact, that is another of her lacks: she seems to have no
objection to imposing herself upon Margaret in a pecuniary way as well
as in others. She has nothing, there isn't literally a cent of income,
Betty Carew tells me; only a pile of the most extraordinarily darned old
clothes and house-linen, a decayed orange grove, and two obstinate old
negro servants, who don't really belong to anybody, and wouldn't obey
them if they did. That you should buy the place, that has been their one
hope; it was very clever of them to give you the idea."

"Garda didn't give it, I wanted the place as soon as I saw it. She _is_
ignorant about money; most girls of sixteen are. But what is it that
really vexes you so much in this affair, Aunt Katrina? I am sure there
is something."

"You are right," replied Mrs. Rutherford, with dignity. "But 'vexes' is
not the word, Evert. It is a deeper feeling." She had put away her
handkerchief, and now sat majestically in her chair, her white hands
extended on its cushioned arms. "_Hurt_ is the word; I am hurt about
Margaret. Here I have done everything in the world for her, opened my
home and my heart to her, in spite of _all_; and now she deserts me for
a totally insignificant person, a stranger."

"Margaret has always been very devoted to you, and I am sure she will
continue to be--she is conscientious in such things--no matter what
other responsibilities she may assume," said Winthrop, with warmth.

Mrs. Rutherford noticed this warmth (Winthrop noticed it too); but, for
the moment, she let it pass. "That is just it--other responsibilities,"
she answered; "but why should she assume any? Before she promised to
give that girl a home, she should have remembered that it was _my_ home.
Before she promised to take charge of her, she should have remembered
that she had other things in charge. I am an invalid, I require (and
most properly) a great deal of her care; not to give it, or to give it
partially, would be, after all I have done for her, most ungrateful; she
should have remembered that she was not free--free, that is, to make
engagement