e instinctive understanding between them, she was
set apart in his thoughts by her association with his wife's last days.
On his arrival from the south he had gathered on all sides evidences of
her tender devotion to Bessy: even Mr. Tredegar's chary praise swelled
the general commendation. From the surgeons he heard how her unwearied
skill had helped them in their fruitless efforts; poor Cicely, awed by
her loss, clung to her mother's friend with childish tenacity; and the
young rector of Saint Anne's, shyly acquitting himself of his visit of
condolence, dwelt chiefly on the consolatory thought of Miss Brent's
presence at the death-bed.

The knowledge that Justine had been with his wife till the end had, in
fact, done more than anything else to soften Amherst's regrets; and he
had tried to express something of this in the course of his first talk
with her. Justine had given him a clear and self-possessed report of the
dreadful weeks at Lynbrook; but at his first allusion to her own part in
them, she shrank into a state of distress which seemed to plead with him
to refrain from even the tenderest touch on her feelings. It was a
peculiarity of their friendship that silence and absence had always
mysteriously fostered its growth; and he now felt that her reticence
deepened the understanding between them as the freest confidences might
not have done.

Soon afterward, an opportune attack of nervous prostration had sent Mrs.
Harry Dressel abroad; and Justine was selected as her companion. They
remained in Europe for six months; and on their return Amherst learned
with pleasure that Mr. Langhope had asked Miss Brent to take charge of
Cicely.

Mr. Langhope's sorrow for his daughter had been aggravated by futile
wrath at her unaccountable will; and the mixed sentiment thus engendered
had found expression in a jealous outpouring of affection toward Cicely.
He took immediate possession of the child, and in the first stages of
his affliction her companionship had been really consoling. But as time
passed, and the pleasant habits of years reasserted themselves, her
presence became, in small unacknowledged ways, a source of domestic
irritation. Nursery hours disturbed the easy routine of his household;
the elderly parlour-maid who had long ruled it resented the intervention
of Cicely's nurse; the little governess, involved in the dispute, broke
down and had to be shipped home to Germany; a successor was hard to
find, and in the in