ed built up between us.

'She began to neglect her work, and then to make excuses. She was
overdone, and suffered from headache. The school-work tired her. You
have heard it all, Ursula: I need not repeat it.

'One by one she dropped her duties. The parish knew her no more. She
certainly looked ill. Her melancholy increased. Something was evidently
preying on her mind.

'One day Miss Darrell spoke to me. She had been very kind, and had fed my
hopes all this time. But now she was the bearer of bad news.

'She came to me in the study, while I was waiting for Hamilton. She
looked very pale and discomposed, and asked if she might speak to me. She
was very unhappy about me, but she did not think it right to let it go
on. Gladys wanted me to know. And then it all came out.

'It could never be as I wished. Miss Hamilton had been trying all this
time to like me, and once or twice she thought she had succeeded, but the
feeling had never lasted for many days. I was not the right person. This
was the substance of Miss Darrell's explanation.

'"You know Gladys," she went on, "how sensitive and affectionate her
nature is; how she hates to inflict pain. She is working herself up into
a fever at the thought that you will speak to her again.

'"It was too terrible last time, Etta," she said to me, bursting into
tears. "I cannot endure it again. How am I to tell him about Claude?"

'"About Claude!" I almost shouted. Miss Darrell looked frightened at my
violence. She shrank back, and turned still paler. I noticed her hands
trembled.

'"Oh, have you not noticed?" she returned feebly. "Oh, what a cruel task
this is! and you are so good,--so good."

'"Tell me what you mean!" I replied angrily, for I felt so savage at that
moment that a word of sympathy was more than I could bear. You would not
have known me at that moment, Ursula. I am not easily roused, as you
know, but the blow was too sudden. I must have forgotten myself to have
spoken to Miss Darrell in that tone. When I looked at her, her mouth was
quivering like a frightened child's, and there were tears in her eyes.

'"I scarcely know that it is you," she faltered. "Are men all like that
when their wills are crossed? It is not my fault that you are hurt in
this way. And it is not Gladys's either. She has tried--I am sure she has
tried her hardest--to bring herself to accede to your wishes. But a woman
cannot always regulate her own heart."

'"You have mentioned Captain H