be distressed, and not let me know?' 

 'I could not spoil their wedding-day, that we had wished for so long.' 

 'Then you had the letter?' 

 'In the morning. Oh, that I had examined farther! Oh, that I had never come home!' 

 'Mary! I cannot hear you say so.' 

 'You would have been spared all this. You were doing very well without me—as you will—' 

 He cried out with deprecating horror. 

 'Louis!' she said, imploringly.  'Oh, Louis! do not make it harder for me to do right.' 

 'Why—what? I don't understand! Your father has not so much as heard how we stand together. He cannot be desiring you to give me up.' 

 'He—he forbids me to enter on anything of the sort with you. I don't know what made him think it possible, but he does. And—' again Mary waited for the power of utterance, 'he orders me to come out with Mrs. Willis, in the Valdivia, and it sails on the 12th of December!' 

 'But Mary, Mary! you cannot be bound by this. It is only fair towards him, towards all of us, to give him time to answer our letters.' 

 Mary shook her head.  'The only condition, he says, on which he could allow me to remain, would be if I were engaged to James Frost.' 

 'Too late for that, certainly,' said Louis; and the smile was a relief to both.  'At any rate, it shows that he can spare you. Only give him time. When he has my father's explanation—and my father is certain to be so concerned at having cast any imputation on a lady. His first thought was to apologize—' 

 'That is not all! I remember now that dear mamma always said she did not know whether he would consent. Oh! how weak I was ever to listen—' 

 'No, Mary, that must not be said. It was my presumptuous, inveterate folly that prevented you from trusting my affection when she might have helped us.' 

 'I don't know. It would have caused her anxiety and distress when she was in no state for them. I 

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