failing satisfaction in bewildering
and horrifying her, and tried systematically to find out whether there
was really any limit to her patience and gentleness. He induced her to
go with him to the mountains near at hand, and took every opportunity to
place himself in positions where he was in imminent danger of falling
some hundreds of feet and being dashed to pieces on the rocks. Her
dearly-beloved cat was suddenly lost to sight, and when it reappeared,
uttering meek appeals for sympathy and help, its personal adornments
were as striking as they were varied. He proved to her conclusively that
all cats are utterly incapable of affection, and that their characters
are vicious and treacherous to the last degree. His favorite method,
however, was to begin by asking her some trivial question and then
involve her in a net-work of apparent self-contradictions, which filled
her conscientious soul with anguish and dismay at her own
untruthfulness. Sometimes he felt a little ashamed of these amusements,
and determined to forego them; but the temptation was too great for his
powers of resistance, and he soon began transgressing again.

One morning Rena received a visit from her most intimate friend, Elsa
Barndollar, who was only fifteen years old, but, having spent the
preceding season at a city boarding-school, considered herself a grown
woman with an unusually wide experience. Although passionately devoted
to Rena, she was as fond of teasing her as Brent himself. Yet as soon as
the latter began indulging himself with that diversion, she became
highly indignant, and scornfully betook herself to the garden.

When Rena had followed her thither, she gave vent to her wrath without
restraint.

"That's the most hateful man I ever saw!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, no, Elsa!" said Rena deprecatingly.

"Yes, he is. He's perfectly horrid! What does he mean by teasing you as
if you were a little white kitten, or a green and yellow parrot, or some
other ridiculous thing? I suppose he thinks country-people are all
idiots. I never _did_ see the use of Englishmen, anyhow."

"Oh, he only does it for fun. He's always polite to father and mother,
and little Casper thinks he's the nicest man he ever saw."

"Oh, yes! If he's good to your relations you don't care how he treats
you. It's a shame, and he ought to be told so, too."

Rena tried to pacify her young friend, but the attempt was not
successful. The latter made her visit a very short one, a