'No, mamma,' she said at last, 'I don't know what it is.' Mrs.Woodward twined her arm round her daughter's waist, as they sat on the sofa close to each other.

Linda tried to compose herself, but she felt that she was trembling in her mother's arms.

She would have given anything to be calm; anything to hide her secret.

She little guessed then how well her mother knew it.
Her eyes were turned down, and she found that she could not raise them to her mother's face.
'No, mamma,' she said.

'I don't know--what is it ?' 'Gertrude is to be married, Linda.