Esmeralda shut her lips tightly over an unspoken determination. There
are more ways than one of nipping in the bud an incipient love affair,
but she did not care about confiding her latest inspiration to any
hearer, least of all to Bridgie, who would have given up her most
cherished plans rather than hurt the feelings of a fellow-creature. She
changed the subject, and talked lightly on impersonal topics until the
moment of parting drew near, when there came a sudden softening over the
beautiful face, and she said in gentle, diffident tones--

"I didn't like to ask before, but I can't leave without knowing,
darling. Have you heard?"

Bridgie shook her head mutely, and the lines which Pixie had noticed
deepened round her eyes and mouth, but the eyes smiled still--a brave,
steady smile.

"I never shall hear now, Joan. I've made up my mind to that."

"I don't know how you bear it! I can't think how you manage to be so
composed and cheerful! If Geoff had treated me like that, it would have
soured me for life. You were never sour from the first, and now you
seem quite happy. Yet, as Pixie says, you have a pathetic look which
shows that you have not really forgotten. You still care, Bridgie
dear?"

"I shall always care," said Bridgie quietly. "There's an ache at the
back of my heart, but there are so many things at the front that it gets
crowded out. Besides, you know, Esmeralda darling, I don't want to seem
to praise myself, but it's a trouble which God has sent me, and I ask
Him every night to help me to bear it in the right way. It wouldn't be
the right way to let the shadow of it darken other lives besides my own.
If I moped and grizzled, everyone in the house would be uncomfortable,
and they have their own worries, poor creatures, without suffering for
mine! I made an excellent rule for my own benefit--to laugh downstairs
and cry in my own room, and it answers beautifully, for I'm so tired
when I get to bed that I've no sooner begun repining than I wake up and
find it's morning. You try it, dear, when you've got a worry. You'll
find it splendid!"

Esmeralda shook her head.

"Not for me! What I feel I must show, and sooner than I feel it, if
that is possible. If I tried to bottle up my feelings it would make me
ill, and the explosion would be all the greater when it did come. My
only chance is to get it over as soon as possible, but in your case it
is a long slow suspense, which is worse than any