rrived Warehold village was alive

he disappearanc

tormy interview in which the boy pleaded for forgiveness, had driven him out into the night. Bart had left town the next morning at daylight a

ouncement was

h her friend Maria Collins, and Miss Jane, with her customary unselfishness and devotion to her younger sister, had decided to go with

for the fire of the gossip some days before Jane

ut to a passer-by from her eyrie; "and there's more like him if thei

river, did not altogether

ut ye can't tell what these old sea-dogs will do when they git riled. I guess it was the rum more'n the cards. Them fellers used to drink a power o' rum in that shanty. I've seen 'em staggerin' home many a Monday mornin' when I got down early to open up for my team. It's the rum that riled the cap'n, I guess. He wouldn't stand it aboard ship and used to put his men in irons, I've hearn tell, when they come aboard drunk. What gits me is that the cap'n didn't know them feller

Nat, he was known to be a scrupulously honest, exact man who knew no law outside of his duty. He probably did it f

e Manor House as the show-place of the village, but the girls themselves were greatly beloved, Jane being especially idolized from Warehold to Barnegat and the sea. T

ws, sank into his study chair and threw

hen she will come back! I can't realize it! We might as well cl

younger ladies' sorrow being aggravated when they realized that

after the place. Her heart was broken with the loneliness that would come, she moaned, but what was best for

ard the news with ill-

ves at Yardley-not the pretty one-the plain one. Well, she is the most quixotic creature in the world. Only a few weeks ago she wanted to become a nurse in the public hospital here, and now she proposes to close her house an

ly conscientious over trifles. A fine woman, one of the very finest we have, but a little too strait-l

my John! She can never help any man's career. She has neither t

swer to all inquirie

me." No one saw beneath the mask that hid her breaking heart. To them the drawn face and the weary look in her eyes only

which in the cycle of years had cropped out in this generation, poisoning the fountain of her youth. Bart, she realized, had played the villain and the ingrate, but yet it was also true that Bart, and all his class, would have been powerless before a woman of a different temperament. Who, then, had undermined this citadel and gi

Cobden's should be pointed at in scorn. For generations no stain of dishonor had tarnished the family name

lips before it was known to the village

the sofa. The calm, determined way with which this was done-so unusual in one so cordial-startled him. He felt that something of momentous interest, and, judging from J

matter?" he asked ner

gain-it is about Lucy and me." Th

did not speak. Jane continued, her face

n her love for us all and teach her to love me the better. It has-so much so that hereafter we will never be separated.

the effect of her statement. It was a cold, almost brutal way of putting

, his eyes fixed on hers, a cold chill benumbing the roots of his h

" he asked in

less than two yea

RS? Is L

tudy music, and she

" he asked, in a more positive tone.

es

under her father's portrait, his elbows on the mantel, his head in his hand. interwoven with the pain which the announcement had

but to the smouldering coals. "How have I ever failed you? What has my daily life been but

rted in

ow how truly I appreciate your own friendship-but only that I love my sister more; and my duty is with her. I only decided last night. Don't turn your back on me. Come and

walked quickly toward her. The suffering in

-all feeling about himself had dropped away-"why must you go so soon? Why not wait

eplied, in a tone as if the matte

you. If she was determined to be a musician it would be different, but it is only for her pleasure, and as an accomplishment." He spoke earnestly and i

a moment, and then said quietly, and

st we go

y-with the eye of a scientist, this

ng her, or there is someone with whom you are afraid she will fall in

ere is

ped the arm of the sofa with his fingers. He

ever known you to do a thing like this before. It is entirely unlike you.

to do my duty in my own way?" She stole a look

o go?" he asked in his fo

es

urage and determined air, his experienced eye caught

he said in a manner almost professional in its

rvous haste. "There is no one we could take but Martha, and she is

its life; it is not the place for two women to live in alo

not af

voice, "very much afraid." It was no longe

wh

, and cannot until you encounter them,"

to go with us." This came with some positiven

is," he answ

ing her hand from his caress, an

ill go w

in the tones of his voice before he had expressed it, and had tried to think o

ressed so long for utterance could no longer be held back. "I cannot live here alone without you. You know i

to tell him everything in her heart. Then came a quick, sharp pain that stifled every other thought. For t

" she moaned in a tone almost of pain. "I can

of her suffering in her face: determination to do her duty, horror

ut her shoulders a

me, Jane,

wered simply. "Too well"-and her voice broke-"t

re than a year, and then we will all come back together, and I take up my work again. I need you, my beloved. Nothing that I do seems of any use without you

ht in his. For an instant she did not answer or move; the

w have work to do on the other side. We cannot work together; we must work apart. Your heart is speaking, and I love you for it, but we must not think of i

of Lucy's taken hold of you as it has? And it is only a whim; Lucy will want something else in six months. Oh, I cannot-cannot let you go. I'm so desolate without you-my whole life is yours-everything I do is for you. O Jane, my beloved, don't shut me out of

t talk so! I can only bear comforting words to-day. I am too wr

his head. He knew how strong was her will and how futile would

did not mean to be impatient or exacting." Then he raised his head

ai

give me n

llowing a dim light that leads hither and thither, and wh

something you h

Can't you

t you l

life,

e two had sat together, and with her hands clasped tight above her head, sank down upon i

of himself; it is always of me-me, who can do nothing. The tears were in his eyes-I sa

the protection of his strength. Then her gaze fell upon her father's portrait! The cold, steadfast eyes were looking down upon her as if they could read her very soul. "No!

tering steps, walked upstairs to where Martha was getting Lucy's things ready for the coming journey. Crossing the room, she stood with her e

t?" she asked in a broken voi

Jane from betw

d him about

r frame was shaki

about

could

rd and laid her han

sie! That was the hardest part. He's big and strong a