your politeness, conceal how much the place bored you!"

"She said this?"

"Yes; and she added that if it were not for Clara, with her German
lessons and her little Venetian barcarolles, you would have been driven
to desperation."

"But you could have told her, Henry, that I delighted in this place;
that I never had passed such happy days as here."

"I did think so when we knew them first, but latterly it seemed to me
that you were somehow sadder and graver than you used to be. You didn't
like to ride with us; you seldom came down to the river; you'd pass all
the morning in the library; and, as May said, you only seemed happy when
you were giving Clara her lesson in German."

"And to whom did May say this?"

"To me and to Clara.

"And Clara,--did she make any answer?"

"Not a word. She got very pale, and seemed as though she would burst out
a-crying. Heaven knows why! Indeed, I 'm not sure the tears were n't in
her eyes, as she hurried away; and it was the only day I ever saw May
Leslie cross."

"I never saw her so," said Layton, half rebukefully.

"Then you didn't see her on that day, that's certain! She snubbed
Charley about his riding, and would n't suffer Mrs. Morris to show her
something that had gone wrong in her embroidery; and when we went down
to the large drawing-room to rehearse our tableau,--that scene you wrote
for us,--she refused to take a part, and said, 'Get Clara; she 'll do it
better!'"

"And it was thus our little theatricals fell to the ground," said
Layton, musingly; "and I never so much as suspected all this!"

"Well," said the boy, with a hesitating manner, "I believe I ought not
to have told you. I 'm sure she never intended I should; but somehow,
after our tiff--"

"And did _you_ quarrel with her?" asked Layton, eagerly.

"Not quarrel, exactly; but it was what our old commander used to call a
false-alarm fire; for I thought her unjust and unfair towards you, and
always glad when she could lay something or other to your charge, and I
said so to her frankly."

"And she?"

"She answered me roundly enough. 'When you are a little older, young
gentleman,' said she, 'you 'll begin to discover that our likings and
dislikings are not always under our own control.' She tried to be very
calm and cool as she said it, but she was as pale as if going to faint
before she finished."

"She said truly," muttered Layton to himself; "our impulses are but the
shadows our vices or virtues thro