"That is all now," she said, softly; and she waited for him to speak if he chose.

He turned his head away sharply, and Miss Ailie mistook his meaning.

If she gave one little sob--Well, it was but one, and then all the glory of womanhood came rushing to her aid, and it unfurled its flag over her, whispering, "Now, sweet daughter, now, strike for me," and she raised her head gallantly, and for a moment in her life the old school-mistress was a queen.

"I shall ring for tea," she said, quietly and without a tremor; "do you think there is anything so refreshing after a walk as a dish of tea ?" She rang the bell, but its tinkle only made Gavinia secede farther into the cellar, and that summons has not been answered to this day, and no one seems to care, for while the wires were still vibrating Mr.McLean had asked Miss Ailie to forgive him and marry him.
Miss Ailie said she would, but, "Oh," she cried, "ten years ago it might have been my Kitty.

I would that it had been Kitty!" Miss Ailie was dear to him now, and ten years is a long time, and men are vain.