which my rashness had occasioned, and felt how deeply had fallen the
first accents of love into the poor heart of the secluded one. What
had I done by the short, indistinct, most inconsiderate avowal, and
how was it possible now to avert its consequences? Every tender and
uneasy glance that Mr. Fairman cast upon his cherished daughter,
passed like a sting to me, and roused the bitterest self-reproach. I
could have calmed his groundless fears, had I been bold enough to
risk his righteous indignation. The frankness and cordiality which
had ever marked my intercourse with Miss Fairman, were from this
hour suspended. Could it be otherwise with one so innocent, so
truthful, and so meek! Anger she had none, but apprehension and
conceptions strange, such as disturb the awakened soul of woman, ere
the storm of passion comes to overcharge it.

I slunk from the apartment and the first meal of the day, like a man
guilty of a heinous fault. I pleaded illness, and did not rejoin my
friends. I knew not what to do, and I passed a day in long and
feverish doubt. Evening arrived. My pupils were dismissed, and once
more I sat in my own silent room lost in anxious meditation. Suddenly
an unusual knock at the door roused me, and brought me to my feet. I
requested the visitor to enter, and Mr. Fairman himself walked slowly
in. He was pale and care-worn and he looked, as I imagined, sternly
upon me. "All is known!" was my first thought, and my throat swelled
with agitation. I presented a chair to the incumbent; and when he
sat down and turned his wan face upon me, I felt that my own cheek
was no less blanched than his. I awaited his rebuke in breathless
suspense.

"You are indeed ill, Stukely," commenced Mr. Fairman, gazing
earnestly. "I was not aware of this, or I would have seen you before.
You have overworked yourself with the boys. You shall be relieved
to-morrow. I will take charge of them myself. You should not have
persevered when you found your strength unequal to the task. A
little repose will, I trust, restore you."

With every animating syllable, the affrighted blood returned again,
and I gained confidence. His tones assured me that he was still in
ignorance. A load was taken from me.

"I shall be better in the morning, sir," I answered. "Do not think
seriously of the slightest indisposition. I am better now."

"I am rejoiced to hear it," answered the incumbent. "I am full of
alarm and wretchedness to-day. Did you observe m