"I'm sorry, Auntie. I can't marry Eliot even to keep him in England.

Even to please you."

"Even to save his life, you mean. You don't care if he dies of some

hideous tropical disease."

"I care awfully. But I can't marry him. He knows why."

"It's more than I do. If you're thinking of Jerrold, you needn't. I

thought you'd done with that schoolgirlish nonsense."

"I'm not 'thinking' of him. I'm not 'thinking' of anybody and I wish

you'd leave me alone."

"My dear child, how can I leave you alone when I see you making the

Advertisement..

mistake of your life? Eliot is absolutely the right person for you, if

you'd only the sense to see it. He's got more character than anybody I

know. Much more than dear Jerry. He'll be ten times more interesting to

live with."

"I thought Jerrold was your favourite."

"No, Eliot, my dear. Always Eliot. He was my first baby."

"Well, I'm awfully sorry you mind so much. And I'd marry Eliot if I

could. I simply hate him to be unhappy. But he won't be. He'll live to

be frightfully glad I didn't...What, aren't you going to kiss me

good-night?"

Adeline had risen and turned away with the great dignity of her

righteous anger.

"I don't feel like it," she said. "I think you've been thoroughly

selfish and unkind. I hate girls who go on like that--making a man mad

about you by pretending to be his comrade, and then throwing him over.

I've had more men in love with me, Anne, than you've seen in your life,

but I never did _that_."

"Oh Auntie, what about Father? And you were engaged to him."

"Well, anyhow," said Adeline, softened by the recollection, "I _was_

engaged."

She smiled her enchanting smile; and Anne, observing the breakdown of

dignity, got up off the bed and kissed her.

"I don't suppose," she said, "that Father was the only one."

"He wasn't. But then, with _me_, my dear, it was their own risk. They

knew where they were."

Anne left Wyck at Easter and returned in August because of Colin. Then

she went back to her Ilford farm.

The two years passed, and in the spring of the third year, nineteen

fourteen, she came again.




Most Popular