I hurried away up-stairs, my knees shaking
under me, and shut myself into my own room.
There I stayed for above an hour, sitting
motionless and dry-eyed on the bed, with a dull
sick feeling at my heart. At last Hester came
up-stairs and knocked at my door.

"Your uncle's love, Miss, and do you feel
well enough to come and give him his tea?"

Then I knew that Mr. Lee was gone, and I
arose and went down to my uncle. He said not a
word at the time about his visitor; but I learned
afterwards that the interview had been a stormy
one. Mr. Lee, while deprecating the conduct
of his son, had tried to act as mediator between
Horace and my uncle, endeavouring to show
that continued resentment on the part of the
latter could only hurt himself, and was really
uncalled for. That the thing was done and
could not be undone—-" which," said my uncle,
"was the sting of the whole matter"—-and
so forth. But it finally appeared that his
chief object in coming had been to ascertain
whether Anna's marriage would make any
difference in the amount of her prospective
inheritance. My uncle had always announced that
my sister and I were to be the joint inheritors
of what property he had to leave, and that it
would be divided equally between us.

"I told him," said my uncle, speaking of this
to me afterwards: " I told him that neither your
sister nor her husband would ever be the richer
by one penny of my money. She and he have
chosen their way, and must pursue it together.
But never, with my consent, shall any help go
from me to them, either during my life or after
my death. I have one niece, one child, one
heiress. He wanted to see you, feeling sure,
he said, that you would not wish this. But I
told him, if you were an angel I was none,
and that in this matter I would have my own
way. So he left me."

I tried, of course, to alter my uncle's resolution.
What was the money to me?  But
whenever I reverted, even distantly, to the
subject, he grew so fierce and terrible in his
anger against her, that I was fain to cease
my pleadings, and leave it to time to soften
him more effectually than any poor words
of mine could. So, the autumn and the winter
and the spring wore away, and the summer
came round again in its appointed course.
Twice during the year Mr. Norcliffe had come
to see us, and on his last visit had pained me
by asking me to be his wife. Pained me, because
my own trouble made me tender to the
genuine feeling of an honest heart. And it
could never, never be.

"I don't ask for love, Miss Sedley," he said.
"I know and respect your feelings. But if you
could ever bring yourself to think of me—-if you
could give me any hope that time might change
your resolution—-you would make me a very
happy man."

I think I did not fully know what my love
for Horace had been, nor fully realise how
that part of my life was lost to me, until I
received this proposal. My uncle would have
encouraged it; and Mr. Norcliffe was a man
every way my superior, and I was very sensible
of the great honour he did me when he placed
this high confidence and trust in me. But all
that was over. I assured him that my marrying
was impossible, then and thereafter. He took
it like the fine-natured gentleman he was. And
the last words he said to me on that occasion
were these:

"Miss Sedley, if you ever need a friend's
advice, or a brother's protection, will you
believe that I should esteem it my dearest
privilege to afford you both? Will you tell me
that you trust me enough to ask me for them?"

This I could most heartily and gratefully
assure him. There had been several letters
from Anna to my uncle, and there had been
one directed in Horace's hand. But Uncle
Gough thrust them all unopened into the fire,
holding them firmly in the blaze until the last
fragment was consumed. My heart yearned
sometimes for news of my sister. I had been
thinking, dreaming, musing on her, and on
Horace, all the year; and, as my first anguish
softened, I began to ask myself if this estrangement
were to go on all through our lives. He
had loved her best. Was she not more beautiful,
more attractive, than I? I thought sometimes
that if they had only come to me, and
had only confessed that they loved each other,
and had asked that I should release Horace
from his promise, I could have done it.

One bright day I had persuaded my uncle to
drive some miles out of town, to a small
property he had in a neighbouring village, consisting
of a few cottages and some pasture-land.
One of his tenants had desired to see him on,
I know not what, business connected with some
trifling repairs. It would be a change, an
occupation, an excuse for a short absence from
home. I dreaded to see him entirely lose his once
active habits, and sit dreaming in the house day
after day. I urged him to drive over to the village,
and, having seen him set off in his high
gig with the old mare, fat and frolicsome after
her long rest, I took advantage of his absence
to go into Willborough and make some house-
keeping purchases. I had almost completed
my task, and was nearing the Gable House on
my way back, when I remembered that cook
had asked for some sweet herbs, and I went into
a shop to get them. We all know how subtle
and potent is a familiar odour to awaken sleeping
memories in the brain, and the smell of that
shop invariably took me back to the market-day
when Anna had gaily thrust a fragrant bunch
of herbs over my uncle's shoulder, and we had
first seen Horace Lee. O me! How long, how
long ago, it seemed!

The good woman who served me, put up what
I wanted; and then, as I took the little parcel
in my hand, she said:

"So we've got your sister back among us,
Miss Sedley."

"My sister!"

I suppose my face turned very white, for I
felt the blood rush back to my heart, and the