election was over. By this date it had begun to dawn on other
perceptions besides Mr. Cecil Burleigh's that she was not a young lady
in love. His sister struggled against this conviction as long as she was
able, and when it prevailed over her hopefulness she ventured to speak
of it to him. He was not unprepared.

"I am, after all, afraid, Cecil, that Miss Fairfax may turn out an
uninteresting person," she began diffidently.

"Because I fail to interest her, Mary--is that it?" said her brother.

"She perplexes me by her cool, capricious behavior. _Now_ I think her
very dear and sweet, and that she appreciates you; then she looks or
says something mocking, and I don't know what to think. Does she care
for any one else, I should like to know?"

"Perhaps she made some such discovery at Ryde for me."

"She told me of your meeting with the Gardiners there. Poor Julia! I
wish it could be Julia, Cecil."

"I doubt whether it will ever be Miss Fairfax, Mary. She is the oddest
mixture of wit and simplicity."

"Perhaps she has some old prepossession? She would not be persuaded
against her will."

"All her prepossessions are in favor of her friends in the Forest. There
was a young fellow for whom she had a childish fondness--he was at
Bayeux when I called upon her there."