h way.

'Ursie, don't pretend to look so surprised: you knew all about it: I saw
it in your face. Don't you remember what he said that night, that he did
not know what would become of him if I died, that he could not bear it?
Did you see how he looked when he said it?'

I remained silent, for I could not deny that Mr. Tudor had betrayed
himself at that moment; but she went on very quietly, 'Ursie dear, I know
Mr. Tudor cares for me; he does not always hide it, though he tries to do
so. You see he is so real and honest that he cannot help showing things.'

'Jill,' I exclaimed anxiously, 'what would your mother say if she knew
this?'

'I think she does know it,' replied Jill calmly. 'She does not care for
Mr. Tudor to come so often, but she is good to him all the same. Neither
father nor mother will be pleased about it, because he is not rich, poor
fellow; not that I think that matters,' finished Jill, in a grave,
old-fashioned manner.

'My dear child,' in a horrified tone, 'you talk as though you were sure
of your own mind, and you are hardly seventeen.'

'So I am sure,' was the confused answer. 'If Mr. Tudor cares enough for
me to wait for a good many years,--until I am one-and-twenty,--he will
find me all ready: of course I belong to him, Ursula: has he not saved my
life? There is no hurry,' went on Jill, in her matter-of-fact way; 'he is
very nice, and I shall always like him better than any one else; but
I should not care to be engaged until I am one-and-twenty. One wants
a little fun and a good deal of work before settling down into an engaged
person,' finished the girl, with a droll little laugh.

I was spared the necessity of any reply to this surprising confession by
the entrance of our three visitors, for Max had encountered them at the
station, of course by accident, and had walked up with them. That fact
was sufficient to account for Gladys's soft bloom and the satisfied look
in her eyes: she looked so lovely in the new furs Giles had bought her,
that I did not wonder that Max was a little absent in his replies to me.
Jill had made some excuse and left us, and it was really a very good
idea of Giles's to ask me to come out on the balcony and look at the sea.
He wrapped me in his plaid and placed me in a sheltered corner, and we
stood watching the twinkling lights, and the dark water under the glimmer
of starlight. He had a great deal to tell me, first how happy Eric was in
his new work, and what cheerfu