time to me. It was such a comfort
to feel that I was necessary to them all; that they looked for me daily;
that they could not do without me. I used to be with Hamilton every
evening; and when Gladys was very ill they sent for me, because they
said no one knew how to soothe her so well.

'Do you wonder, Ursula, that, seeing her in her weakness and sorrow, she
grew daily into my life, that my one thought was how I could help and
comfort her?

'She was very gentle and submissive, and followed my advice in
everything. When I told her that only work could cure her sore heart,
she did not contradict me: in a little while I had to check her feverish
activity. She had overwhelmed herself with duties; she managed our
mothers' meetings with Miss Darrell's help, taught in our schools, and
helped train the choir. I had allotted her a district, and she worked it
admirably. She was my right hand in everything; all the poor people
worshipped her.'

'Yes, Max,' for he paused, as though overwhelmed with some bitter-sweet
recollection.

'I loved her more each day, but I respected her sorrow, and tried to hide
my feelings from her. It was more than a year after Eric's disappearance
before I ventured to speak, and then it was by Hamilton's advice that I
did so. He had set his heart on the match. He told me more than once that
he would rather have me as a brother-in-law than any other man.

'I thought I had prepared her sufficiently, but it seems that she was
very much, startled by my proposal. Her trouble had so engrossed her that
she had been perfectly blind to my meaning. It was all in vain, Ursula,
for she did not love me,--at least not in the right way. She told me so
with tears, accusing herself of unkindness. She liked, most certainly she
liked me, but perhaps she knew me too well.

'She was so unhappy at the thought of giving me pain, so sweet and gentle
in her efforts to console me and heal the wound she had inflicted, that I
could not lose hope. She told me that, though she had trusted me entirely
as her friend, she had never thought of me as her lover, and the idea was
strange to her. This thought gave me courage, and I begged that I might
be allowed to speak to her again at some future time.

'She wanted to refuse, and said hurriedly that she never intended to
marry. But I took these words as meaning nothing. A girl will tell you
this and believe it as she says it. I suppose I pressed her hard to leave
me this margin o