hand.

"Are you not tired of the boy yet?" asked Mrs. Verdon's silvery voice.
"You are very kind, dear Miss Kilner; but pray send him to nurse if he
wearies you."

"He does not weary me in the least," Elsie answered, looking smilingly
into Katherine's face. She could smile unflinchingly, although she saw
that Arnold was staying by the "fair ladye's" side.

"Let them go their way together," she thought. "After all, what right
have I to care?"

As to Francis Ryan, he forgot that Lily Danforth was looking after him
with glances full of the deepest reproach. He had never been thoroughly
in love with Lily; he had only felt for her that spurious kind of love
which grows out of proximity. But she, poor girl, had set all her hopes
upon him, and was very miserable when she saw what Elsie had done. She
began to think that she had made an enemy of Miss Kilner.

"It was Mary's fault," she thought bitterly. "Mary decided that we
should give her the cold shoulder. 'We don't know who she is,' she said.
Absurd! It would have been better to have been civil."

Elsie, too, had forgotten Lily. The hint which Arnold had given her
about the old attachment between his cousin and Ryan had slipped out of
her mind. She was intent on wearing a brave face before the world, and
hiding all the outward and visible signs of heartache.

Yet there was no need to hide a pain which no one suspected her of
enduring. No one, save Mrs. Lennard, had discovered that Elsie had a
secret, and the old lady could keep her own counsel.

"I have scarcely had a word from you all day," said Francis, not caring
to conceal his delight as he walked up the meadow by her side.

"I did not know that my words were of any value," Elsie answered.

The flush was still warm on her cheek, and the dangerous light still
shone in her eyes. Under the shade of her black lace hat the face glowed
like a rich flower.

"Is that quite true, Miss Kilner?" asked Francis, looking down at her
with undisguised admiration. "I think you must know that any word of
yours--even the lightest--is of value to me."

"I'm afraid I say a great many foolish words," she replied lightly. "And
they are best forgotten. What a glorious day we are having! This is
Jamie's first picnic, and he will look back on it in years to come as a
joy for ever. Rushbrook is certainly a charming place."

"Could you be content to live in Rushbrook?" Ryan suddenly asked.

"Always? I don't know."

"Try and see if