The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-05-16
(ContinCed.)

less. As I told you once before, we made a bad start he and I.''
 He rose. "Ah we'll, take my ad- vice. Have a definite understanding with him now. If you go, will he stay? That's clear enough, isn't it? He is a curious fellow and, though of course you have lived in the same house with him for several months now. I yet think it just dimly possi- ble that you do not know his true reasons for his present odd be- havior.''
 Vernon shook her head. She nev- CT doubted that she held the key to the riddle. It was all too plain.
 When do you expect him back ?' asked MT. Conroy after a pause.
 "I don't know
 At all costs, avoid giving Gladwyn a direct answer until you have had fs out with Jem. As I understand the matter, you are preparing to sac- rifice your whole future to your Aunt Emma's comfort? Well, that is a degree of altruism which demands grave thought. Be sure, before com mitting yourself to a course of such self-abnegation. thata the object you have in view-your aunts comfort will actually, be ensured by your pro- ceeding. I feel somewhat doubtful myself
 The tears sprang to Vernon's eyes. "It is not quite so simple as thai" !" she murmured. half inaudibly. "Its its not only that Jem doesn't like being in the house with me; it is that IT want to get away from him, too. I ought to go. away. I feel sure that it will be best"
 "very well: do what you think right And God guide you to right decision. Only don't go and do some thing irrevocable because of mis- understanding which half-an-hour' g talk might clear up.''
 Vernon had had the intention to so round her district and visit her babiess but MT. Conroy somewhat peremptorily forbade this.
 Settle your own affairs. my child. they are pressing.' he said. 'The district can wait a day or two. and I wish you to give your serious thought to this matter"
 When the girl. mounted upon Sul- tana. found herself riding back to Carronlea, deadly depression grip ped her at the heart.
 Somewhere deep down had lurked the hope that Father conroy would have definitely forbidden her to think {. of marrying Lionel. Had he done this, her course would have been easy. Not until now had she known how strong, how even violent, that hope had been.
 But he had not done so. He had in no sense assumed command of the situation. He left her to think out her duty for herself.
 This seemed very hard. Here was Lionel, eagerly pressing his suit On what grounds could she say No? She had loved him-in a sense she still on one ground could he renounce hopes of winning her-namely, that she loved some one else. Sooner than say that she loved him, she felt that she would endure any unhappiness.
 Why did she love him? How could it have happened? She knew not. What had he ever done to arouse such feeling in her? Nothing; and not merely SO: he had done every thing. one would think, to prevent it. Yet it had happened. Because of the thought of him, her whole heart was :n commotion--she was in the grip of sensations so strong that she hard ly knew whether she loved or hated him-only that he mattered more than anything in the world-only that the thought lof him was keen emo- hcr pulses to quicken-the desire to see him, even though the sight brought pain and misery, was con- suming longing
 Like many another in her case, she winced away from the notion of be- ing left to combat these feelings alone. Lionel was a means of es- cape. To him she might turn and hide herself, as it were. in his devo- ton. from the insistent, dreadful con- sciourness of Jem which flooded her with shame, mixed with a fearful secret joy which she hated and against which she struggled.
 In her distress of mind, she felt that she could not, as yet, go home and behave naturally. She rode down the other road-the road that led past the moor where lay the Magic Pool. When she reached the spot where she and Jem had concealed their bicycles, she walked Sultana up- ou the grass. and they descended slowly, past the withered hawthorn bloom, among the juniper and brack- en and brambles, down to the below ed mere.
 TSs wind had dreDped sinca the morning, and soft pale milky clouds covered the sky like a gauge veil. The oh~1-a1 1f ex,nIiur{ hrouyn fo oda5