disappointed in the choice that
he had made; and Sir Philip, in spite of his brave words, was very sore
at heart.

Janetta, all unconscious of the honor preparing for her, was meanwhile
passing some miserable hours. She could not sleep that night--she knew
not why. It was the excitement of the party, she supposed. But
something beside excitement was stirring in her heart. She tried to
give it a name, but she would not look the thing fairly in the face,
and, therefore, she was not very successful in her nomenclature. She
called it friendly interest in others, a desire for their happiness, a
desire also for their good. What made the burning pain and unrest of
these desires? Why should they cause her such suffering? She did not
know--or, more correctly, she refused to know.

She rose in the morning feeling haggard and unrefreshed. The day was a
very hot one; the breeze had died away, and there was not a cloud in the
deep blue sky. Julian Brand came in the dog-cart with the groom. He had
not seen his father that morning, he said, and he thought that he had
gone away, but he did not know. Gone away? Janetta sat down to her work
with a heavy heart. It seemed to her that she must speak either to him
or to Margaret. He was compromising her friend, and for Margaret's sake
she must not hold her peace. Well, it was the day for Miss Adair's
singing lesson. When she came that afternoon, Janetta made up her mind
that she would say a needful word.

But Margaret did not come. She sent a note, asking to be excused. She
had a headache, and could not sing that afternoon.

"She is afraid to come!" said Janetta, passionately, and for almost the
first time she felt a thrill of anger against her friend.

Another visitor came, if Margaret did not. About four o'clock, just as
Julian was beginning to wonder when he would be fetched away, a
thundering peal at the door knocker announced the appearance of Wyvis
Brand. Janetta was in the drawing-room putting away some music when he
came in. She saw that he glanced eagerly round the room, as if expecting
to see someone else--perhaps Margaret Adair--and her heart hardened to
him a little as she gave him her hand. Had he come at that hour because
Margaret generally took her lesson then?

"How cold you are!" cried Wyvis, holding the little hand for the moment
in his own. "On this hot day! How _can_ you manage to keep so cool??"

If his heart had been throbbing and his head burning as Janetta's we