. 'Your brother's
heart has been sore for you all these years: you need not fear one word
of reproach from him.' But he only sighed, and asked me not to walk so
quickly; his courage was failing; I could see the look of nervous fear
on his face.

We had arranged that he should accompany me to Gladwyn. Gladys never left
her room before twelve, and I thought that I could shut him safely in the
dining-room while I prepared her for his arrival. I knew Mr. Hamilton was
never at home at this hour, but I had not reckoned on the disorganised
state of the house, or the difference my brief absence would make in the
usual routine.

I blamed myself for rashness and want of consideration when, on opening
the gate, I saw Gladys crossing one of the little lawns around the house,
with Max and Mr. Hamilton. At my faint exclamation Eric let go the gate
rather too suddenly, and it swung back on its hinges so noisily that they
all looked round, and the poor boy stood as though rooted to the spot.
But the next moment there was the gleam of a white gown, and Gladys came
running over the grass towards us with outstretched hands, and in another
second the brother and sister were locked in each other's arms.

'Oh, my darling,' we heard her say, as she put up her face and kissed
him, and then her fair head seemed to droop lower and lower until it
touched Eric's shoulder. I glanced anxiously at Mr. Hamilton.

'Take her into the house, Eric,' he said, in his ordinary voice; but how
white his face looked! 'It has been too sudden, and she has fainted.'
And, without a word, Eric lifted her in his strong arms and carried her
of his own accord to the little blue couch in the drawing-room, and then
stood aside while his brother administered the usual remedy. Not a look
had passed between them yet: they were both too much absorbed in Gladys.

She soon opened her eyes, and pushed away the vinaigrette I was holding
to her.

'It is nothing, Ursula. I am well, quite well. Where is my dear boy? Do
not keep him from me.' And then Eric knelt down beside her, and put his
arm round her with a sort of sob.

'I ought not to have startled you so, Gladys. I have made you look so
pale.' But she laughed again, and pushed back his hair from his forehead,
and feasted her eyes on his face as though they could never be satisfied.

'Eric, darling, it seems like a dream; and it was Ursula, dear good
Ursula, who has given you back to us. We must thank her presently; bu