id the lady.

"Oh, no--but--I am going to be married!" suddenly blurted out the girl, as
by a heroic effort, and then she flushed crimson over cheeks, neck and
brow.

"Oh!" exclaimed Mrs. Force, not very much surprised, after all, for she
had long seen to what purpose the visits of the little, red-haired and
freckle-faced Dr. Ingle tended.

Then, recovering herself, she arose and kissed the young governess
tenderly, saying:

"I congratulate you with all my heart, dear. Dr. Ingle is a very worthy
young man. Your intended is Dr. Ingle, I suppose?" said the lady, suddenly
remembering that the governess had mentioned no name.

"Yes," said Miss Meeke, recovering herself, now that the ice had been
broken.

"Then I am very glad, for your sake. And very sorry for the children's,"
she added.

Then Miss Meeke began to cry.

"I cannot bear to leave Wynnette and Elva," she sobbed.

"You will not be parted from them, dear," kindly suggested Mrs. Force.
"You will be our neighbor, you know. You will come to see us very
frequently, I hope. And as for the children, they will run after you so
much that I expect you will wish them a thousand miles off."

"Oh, no! Never! never! Dear, bright Wynnette and fond Elva!"

"When your time comes you will be married from this house, my dear, as if
you were a daughter of the family. And if you have any friends or
relatives whom you would like to have present, give me their names and
addresses, and I will invite them to come and stay for the wedding," said
the lady.

"Oh, madam! how can I thank you? But your kindness to-day is only a
continuation of the kindness you have shown me during the whole seven
years I have lived at Mondreer. And always you have treated me as a
daughter of the house. And my pupils have been as younger sisters. Ah! It
seems ungrateful in me to leave them before they are grown up and out of
my care."

"Do not think of that, my dear. Marriage is the natural destiny of a young
woman. You have given enough of your youth to my children, and now that 'a
good man and true' like Dr. Ingle loves you and wins your love, and offers
you marriage, you should marry."

"I have been very happy here with you and through you, madam," said the
governess.

"If it is so, as I hope and believe it is, it will be a very pleasant
memory for us all. Do your pupils know of your engagement?"

"Oh, no! And I do so much dread to tell them!"

"Well, do not let them look forward to the