e almost sure to come that evening, and she wanted to be at
home when he came, to see for herself that he was none the worse
for the long immersion in the water, and the painful barefooted
walk to Seal Cove.

But the hesitancy did not last long, and, setting her face in
sterner lines than usual, Katherine told the man that she would
certainly pay Miss Selincourt a visit that evening when her work
was done.

If the work dragged a little after that, and the day lost something
of the zest which had marked it before, no one guessed it but
herself. She was bright and cheerful, teasing Miles, when he came
home, about some fancied indignity which he had received at the
hands of the Indians, and rallying Mrs. Burton on the awful
confusion wrought by her reforms in the store.

Not even to herself would Katherine admit how much she dreaded the
simple friendly visit she had promised to pay that evening. She
was afraid that she would see some look or sign of what she feared
most to know. Mary Selincourt was a reserved, self-controlled
girl, but it is her sort of nature which sometimes betrays itself
most completely in moments of emotional strain, and Katherine at
this time was very much like an ostrich, being disposed to believe
that the thing she could not see did not exist.

'Duke Radford spent most of his days sitting in the sunshine. He
talked cheerfully, withal a trifle incoherently, to all of his
friends and neighbours who came to gossip with him; but he was
always at his best when Mr. Selincourt or Jervis Ferrars was there
to talk to him, for they spoke of things right away from the
ordinary course of daily life, and his mind was clearest about the
matters which in other days had concerned him least. But neither
Mr. Selincourt nor Jervis Ferrars had been near for three days, and
the invalid plainly moped, missing the companionship that cheered
him most.

"I am so glad you are going over to sit with Mary to-night, because
that will probably mean that Mr. Selincourt will come here, and he
will be sure to cheer Father up," Mrs. Burton said, when Katherine
came in for a hurried cup of tea before finishing her work in the
store.

"He does look tired and sad to-day," Katherine answered wistfully.
She could bear her father's condition better when he was cheerful
and at ease, but when, as to-day, life seemed a burden to him, then
her heart ached at the sight of his suffering.

The last half-hour in the store that eve