watchful over their comfort, but he was
certainly a little stiff and constrained in his manner to them: he seemed
to unbend more freely to his cousin than to them; he had scolded her
good-humouredly once or twice, after quite a brotherly fashion, and she
had taken his rebukes in a way that showed they understood each other.
I grew tired at last of trying to adjust my ideas on the subject of the
Hamilton family. I was rather provoked to find how they had begun to
absorb my interest. 'Never mind, I have promised Uncle Max to be good to
her,' was my last waking thought that night, 'and I am determined to keep
my word.' And I fell asleep, and dreamt that I was trying to save Miss
Hamilton from drowning, and that all the time Miss Darrell was standing
on the shore, laughing and pelting us with stones, and when a larger one
than usual struck me, I awoke.

I wondered if it were accident or design that brought Miss Darrell across
my path the next day. I had just left the Lockes' cottage, feeling
somewhat tired and depressed: Phoebe had been in one of her contrary
moods, and had given me a good deal of trouble, but the evil spirit had
been quieted at last, and I had taken my leave after reprimanding her
severely for her rudeness. I was just closing the garden gate, when Miss
Darrell came up to me in the dusk, holding out her hand with her tingling
little laugh.

'How odd that we should have met just here! I hardly knew you, Miss
Garston, in that long cloak, you looked so like a Sister of Charity.
I think you are very wise to adopt a uniform.'

'Thank you, but I have hardly adopted one,' I returned, folding the fur
edges of my cloak closer to me, for it was a bitterly cold evening. 'Are
you going home, Miss Darrell? because you have passed the turning that
leads to Gladwyn.'

'Oh, I do not mind a longer round,' was the careless answer. 'I am very
hardy, and a walk never hurts me. If it were Gladys, now--by the bye,
have you seen my cousin Giles to-day?'

'No,' I returned, wondering a little at her question.

'You are lucky to have escaped him,' with another laugh. 'Dear, dear,
how angry Giles was last night, to be sure, when we came home and found
Gladys out! he was far too angry to say much to her; he only asked her if
she had taken leave of her senses, and that some people--I do not know
whom he meant--ought to be ashamed of themselves.'

'Indeed!' somewhat sarcastically, for I confess this speech made me feel
rather c