e in the middle of the day, when Euphrasia, with gentle but determined insistence, had made him sit down before some morsel which she had prepared against his coming, and

because it was silent, but Euphrasia was a stern woman. To know that he missed Austen, to feel that Hilary was being justly punished for his

uminous, had shrunk to the barest necessities for the use of speech; but Hilary, ever since the night of his son's departure, had read in the face of his housekeeper a knowledge of his suffering, an exultation a thousand times more maddening than the little reproaches of language would have been.

eals, and gets along as

of himself and

read betwee

I can help flinging law-books on the floor and running off to the country to have a good time. You know as w

"that's only common humanity. For a man that goes to meetin' twice a week, you'd have thought he'd have

by affection; and of late, at odd moments during his visits, Austen

s you used to," she would remark. "Time was

ersistent fallacies is,

ourself for some months. I've seen it. I haven't brought you up for nothing. If he's

he Judge and I will patch it up before long-I'm sure. He's worri

asia. "It seems to me they bring nothing but trouble. M

the big dining room, which was almost empty, the sense of loneliness which he had experienced so often of late came over him, and he thought of Euphrasia. His father, he knew, had gone to Kingston for the night, and so he drove up Hanover

would not have recognized as Euphrasia's; as though her thoughts of him were the erra

her, in a Windsor chair which had belong

s I give you," she remarked. "Not that you appear to care m

in a day than any other m

abruptly. "I've told you that before, but you

tried it, Phras

swer at once, but presently her knitting dropped to her lap

ked me," she

her. She must have been young once, and fresh, and full of hope for herself; she must have known, long ago, something of what he now felt, something of the joy and pain, something

rinkled face, softening the sterner lines of character. And suddenly there was a new bond between the two. So used are the young to the acceptance of the sacrifice of the old that

hers, which rested on the arm of th

o his face searchingly. Her eyes were undimmed, and the light was still

d you just couldn't resist. I'll never forget that day she came in here and looked at me and took my hand-same as you have it now. She wasn't married then. I'll never forget the sound of he

clasped his tightly wi

you should be happy! She was so unhappy, it

" he said; "you mustn

t, coloured picture on its panel. And then, with a movement which, strangely, was an a

ot happy,

to equivocate; the confessions of the self-reliant are sacred things. Yes, and there had been times when he had longed to unburden himself; but he had ha

ex, had gone farther; indignation seized her-and the blame fell upon t

dy's fault but

ough Euphrasia would not have called it a courtship. When the time came, Austen would confer; and so sure of his judgment was Euphrasia that she was prepared to take the recipient of the priceless gift into her arms. And now! Was it possible that a woman lived who would even hesitate? Curiosity seized Euphrasia with the intensity of a passion. Who was this woman? When and where had he seen her? Rip

e smiled at her gently, as though h

you're not happy, then the mat

ad at her, as t

asily mended

was silent

" she repeated,

very much as if we were i

s heart ga

imes I've thought I'd ought to have given him some sign. You're a man, Austen; tha

imple as that,

ve him a sta

married?" s

and laughed in

had had a morality of her own, and on occas

question, and her tone boded ill to any young per

again, and smile

ecause you guessed that I said anything about it." He disengaged his hand, and rose, and patted her on the c

is face. He thought it strange afterwards, as he drov

sia would have taken it thence, if she could. Nor did Austen

had arrived in Ripton, on the night express, as early as five o'clock in the morning. He had been touring the State ostensibly on lumber business, but young Tom had a large and varied personal as well as commercial acquaintance, and he had the inestimable h

, Mr. Gaylord beheld with astonishment a prim, elderly lady in a stiff, black dress sitting upright on the edge of a capacious oak chair whi

cried young Tom, "if

've been to market, and I had a no

ew his revolving chair close to Euphrasia, and sat down. They were old friends, and more than once in a youth far from model Tom had experienced certain phy

she

ow?" inqu

nto. Euphrasia was a spinster in the strictest sense of that formidable and highly descriptive term, and she intended ultimately to discuss with Tom a subject of which she was supposed by t

he said heartily. "It was fond of you to c

ink not," sa

l retained for her so

'd wish to," he went on; "I can't give you

st of 'em," s

ste pies like 'em again as long as I live. Do you know, Euphrasia

" she asked, app

e you made 'em, and second

way with women, had h

stock in stolen thi

mpted with such pie as that," r

almighty stout,"

ng, could she indeed eve

rsation,-brought to an end, apparently, all conversation whatsoever. Tom racked his brain for a new topic, opened his roll-top

you're not exactly a p

e'n maligned a good many times,

d shook wi

id. "I've been around the State some this week, talking to people I know, a

" ejaculate

"obstinate. He doesn't seem to want somethin

. "In the years I've lived with Hilary Vane I've seen enough

nd, Euphrasia, this is a secret," said Tom, raising a war

sidered and t

e governors that youn

such a governor for years as Austen would make. But he won't push himself. Y

e had no doubt of its accuracy, but the enunciation of it raised young

himself lately

aid Tom, sympathetically, beginning to realize n

y Vane's the worst. It's Hilary drove him out of his mother's house to live with strangers. It's Austen that comes around to inquire for his father-Hilary never has a wo

in, "all my life. And I, think more of

ingenuous Mr. Gaylord be the first to mention this delicate matter, if possible. "Goodness knows, it a

Hilary's mixed up in. Austen doesn't spend any money to speak of, except

was silent

rs of comprehension in high estimation, and the estimate had not risen during this visit. But she had under

a masculine lack of deli

you, has it?"

Mr. Gaylord had not had a great deal of experience in affairs of the heart, and he was himself aware that his diagnosis in such a matter would not carry much weight. He had conceived a tremendous admiration for Victoria, which had been shaken a little by the suspicion that she might be intending to marry Mr. Crewe. Tom Gaylord saw no reason why Austen V

usten's in love

up straighte

ything of the ki

you know," said Tom; "

?" said Euphr

one afternoon at the capital, and wouldn't tell me who he was going to

comparable in her mind to falling off a roof. What

you, and she's got pluck. That's the first time I ever met her, although I had often seen he

man who was a stunner, who rode wild horses and fell off them and rode them again, was beyond the pale not only of Euphrasia's exper

's attacks on the railroad. I thought that was a sort of a queer thing for Flint's daughter t

no longer, and in her excitement she slipped

she cried; "Augustus

at her in

as?" he stammered. But Eu

g too vast for intelligent comment. Euphrasia, however, grasped some of the problems which Austen had had to face. Moreover, she had learned what she had come for, and the obvious thing to do now was to go home and reflect. So, without furthe

the amazed Mr. Gaylord had time to show her out.

lect upon the astonishing thing she had heard. Habit had so crystallized in Euphrasia that no news, however amazing, could have shaken it. But in the passage she paused; an unwonted, or rather untimely, sound reached her ears, a sound which came from the front of the house-and at nine o'clock in the mornin

ere the graceful banister ended in a curve at the foot of the stairs, and there, on the bottom step, sat a man with his h

d's the matter wi

oming down the

t home in the middle of t

crept under the porch and came in through the f

ia. In all her life she had

d not attempt to rise. A

ust came up here from t

t in my

e never done that in thirty years. You'r

ust it away and got to his feet, although in

m not sick, and I'm going down to the square. Let

e. By the time she had got it open again-a crack-he had reached the side