ht frown, which changed to a smile of amusement as he looked
up and saw Margaret's excitement.

"Well, it was a miss-go. Those folks up there are too good for this
world. You'd better send it to the hospital."

"But you see that they say they do not blame me," Margaret said, with
warmth.

"Oh, I can stand it. People usually don't try to hurt my feelings that
way. Don't mind it, child. They will come to their senses, and see what
nonsense it all is."

Yes, it was nonsense. And how generous and kind at heart her husband was!
In his skillful making little of it she was very much comforted, and at
the same time drawn into more perfect sympathy with him. She was glad she
was not going to Brandon for Christmas; she would not submit herself to
its censorship. The note of acknowledgment she wrote to her aunt was
short and almost formal. She was very sorry they looked at the matter in
that way. She thought she was doing right, and they might blame her or
not, but her aunt would see that she could not permit any distinction to
be set up between her and her husband, etc.

Was this little note a severance of her present from her old life? I do
not suppose she regarded it so. If she had fully realized that it was a
step in that direction, would she have penned it with so little regret as
she felt? Or did she think that circumstances and not her own choice were
responsible for her state of feeling? She was mortified, as has been
said, but she wrote with more indignation than pain.

A year ago Carmen would have been the last person to whom Margaret would
have spoken about a family affair of this kind. Nor would she have done
so now, notwithstanding the intimacy established at Newport, if Carmen
had not happened in that day, when Margaret was still hurt and excited,
and skillfully and most sympathetically extracted from her the cause of
the mood she found her in. But even with all these allowances, that
Margaret should confide such a matter to Carmen was the most startling
sign of the change that had taken place in her.

"Well," said this wise person, after she had wormed out the whole story,
and expressed her profound sympathy, and then fallen into an attitude of
deep reflection--"well, I wish I could cast my bread upon the waters in
that way. What are you going to do with the money?"

"I've sent it to the hospital."

"What extravagance! And did you tell your aunt that?"

"Of course not."

"Why not? I couldn't have resist