Guy did not like to be interfered with, and naturally high-spirited,

he at first flew into a passion, declaring that he would not have

folks meddling with him, that he thought of Lucy Atherstone all the

time, and he did not know what more he could do; that 'twas a pity if

a man could not enjoy himself in his own way, provided that way were

harmless, that he'd never, in all his life, spent so happy a winter as

the last; that--Here Mrs. Noah interrupted him with: "That's it, the very _it_;

you want nothing better than to have that girl sit close to you when

she recites, as she does; and once when she was workin' out some of

them plusses and minuses, and things, her slate rested on your knee;

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it did, I saw it with my own eyes; and then, let me ask, when Jessie

is drummin' on the piano, why don't you bend over her, and turn the

leaves, and count the time, as you do when Maddy plays; and how does

it happen that lately Jessie is one too many, when you hear Maddy's

lessons. She has no suspicions, but I know she ain't sent off for

nothin'; I know you'd rather be alone with Maddy Clyde than to have

anybody present, isn't it so?"

Guy began to wince. There was much truth in what Mrs. Noah had said.

He did devise various methods of getting rid of Jessie, when Maddy was

in his library, but it had never looked to him in just the light it

did when presented by Mrs. Noah, and he doggedly asked what Mrs. Noah

would have him do.

"First and foremost, then, I'd have you tell Maddy yourself that you

are engaged to Lucy Atherstone; second, I'd have you write to Lucy all

about it, and if you honestly can, tell her that you only care for

Maddy as a friend; third, I'd have you send the girl---"

"Not away from Aikenside! I never will!" and Guy sprang to his feet.

The mine had exploded, and for an instant the young man reeled, as he

caught a glimpse of where he stood; still he would not believe it, or

confess to himself how strong a place in his affections was held by

the beautiful girl now no longer a child. It was almost a year since

that April afternoon when he first met Maddy Clyde, and from a timid,

bashful child, of fourteen and a half, she had grown to the rather

tall, and rather self-possessed maiden of fifteen and a half, almost

sixteen, as Mrs. Noah said, "almost a woman;" and as if to verify the

latter fact, she herself appeared at that very moment, asking

permission to come in and find a book, which had been mislaid, and

which she needed in hearing Jessie's lessons.