recovered breath by their mistress's side; and to satisfy the retriever's
affection Emily held one hand to him. Playing gently with his ears, she
said--

'Did you ever see much of Mr. Burnett?'

'Not since I was a boy, ten or twelve years ago, when I was at the
University. There was absolutely no reason for his doing what he did.'

'Yes; there was,' she said in a strangely decisive tone.

'May I ask----'

'I do not know if I ought to tell you. It would be better not to. You
know,' she continued, speaking now with a nervous tremor in her voice,
'that I do not want you to think that I am so very disappointed. I do not
know that I am disappointed at all. You have acted so generously, and it
will be pleasanter to live here with you than with that old man.'

The conversation fell; but the sweet meadow seemed to induce confidences,
and they were so happy in their youth and the sorcery of the sunshine.
'Five years ago I wrote to him,' said Hubert, speaking very slowly, 'asking
him to lend me fifty pounds, and he refused. Since then I have not heard
from him.' At the end of a long silence, the girl said--

'So long as you know that I am no longer angry with him for having
disinherited me, I do not mind telling you the reason. Two months before he
died he asked me to marry him, and I refused.'

They walked several yards without speaking.