WLEDGE ANYTHING' 323

36. 'HOW CAN I BEAR IT?' 332

37. 'I SHALL NEVER BE FREE' 341

38. 'WHO WILL COMFORT HIM?' 351

39. 'YOU WILL LIVE IT DOWN' 360

40. MICHAEL ACCEPTS HIS CHARGE 368

41. 'THERE SHALL BE PEACE BETWEEN US' 378

42. 'WILL YOU SHAKE HANDS WITH YOUR FATHER?' 389

43. MICHAEL'S LETTER 399

44. MOLLIE GOES INTO EXILE 409

45. AUDREY RECEIVES A TELEGRAM 418

46. 'INASMUCH' 426

47. A STRANGE EXPIATION 435

48. ON MICHAEL'S BENCH 445

49. 'LET YOUR HEART PLEAD FOR ME' 456

50. BOOTY'S MASTER 464

51. 'LOVE'S AFTERMATH' 472

LOVER OR FRIEND?

CHAPTER I

THE BLAKE FAMILY ARE DISCUSSED

'There is nothing, sir, too little for so little a creature as man.
It is by studying little things that we attain the great art of
having as little misery and as much happiness as possible.'--DR.
JOHNSON.

Everyone in Rutherford knew that Mrs. Ross was ruled by her eldest
daughter; it was an acknowledged fact, obvious not only to a keen-witted
person like Mrs. Charrington, the head-master's wife, but even to the
minor intelligence of Johnnie Deans, the youngest boy at Woodcote. It
was not that Mrs. Ross was a feeble-minded woman; in her own way she was
sensible, clear-sighted, with plenty of common-sense; but she was a
little disposed to lean on a stronger nature, and even when Geraldine
was in the schoolroom, her energy and youthful vigour began to assert
themselves, her opinions insensibly influenced her mother's, until at
last they swayed her entirely.

If this were the case when Geraldine was a mere girl, it was certainly
not altered when the crowning glories of matronhood were added to her
other perfections. Six months ago Geraldine Ross had left her father's
house to become the wife of