arm July morning looked in at the windows of the sick-room,
bringing with it the perfume of hundreds of flowers blooming on the
lawn, and the scent of the hay cut the previous day, it found Jerrie
still watching by Maude, her own face tired and pale, with dark rings
about her eyes, which were heavy with tears and wakefulness. She had not
slept at all, and her head was beginning to ache frightfully when the
nurse came in and relieved her, telling her breakfast was ready. Maude
was awake, and wrote eagerly upon the slate:

'You'll come back? You'll stay all day? You do me so much good, and I am
a great deal better for your being here.'

Jerrie hesitated a moment; her head was aching so hard that she longed
to get away. But selfishness was not one of Jerrie's faults, and putting
her own wishes aside, she said:

'Yes, I will stay until afternoon, and then I must go home. I did not
tell you that Harold was going away to-night, did I?'

Maude shook her head, and Jerry went on:

'You know, perhaps, that some time ago a Mr. Wilson, of Truesdale, sued
Peterkin for some infringement on a patent, or something of that sort.'

Maude nodded, and Jerrie continued:

'The suit comes off to-morrow, and Harold is subpoenaed as a witness, as
he was in Peterkin's office a while and knows something about the
arrangement between them. I am sorry he has got to swear against
Peterkin; it will make him so angry, and he hates Harold now. The suit
is to be called in the morning and Judge St. Claire and Harold are going
to-night on the five o'clock train; and as he may be gone a day or two I
must be home to see to packing his bag. But I will stay with you just as
long as I can.'

She said nothing of her head which throbbed in a most peculiar way,
making her dizzy and half blind as she went down to breakfast, which she
took alone with Mrs. Tracy. Frank had eaten his long before, and was now
pacing up and down the long piazza with his head bent forward and his
hands locked together behind him.

'I shall never have rest or peace again until it is known. Oh, if it
would only come out without my telling,' he said to himself, little
dreaming how near it was to coming out and that before that day's sun
had set Jerrie would know!

Tom seldom appeared until after ten, and when Jerrie went for a few
moments into the grounds, to see if the fresh air would do her good, she
found him seated in an arm-chair under a horse chestnut tree, stretching
him