"I think he is changeable," she said; "his own mother told me that she was constantly afraid he'd marry some unsuitable young woman, and the only safety was that he would see a new one before it became too serious.

She said it really told upon her health.

Dear me, I should think it might." Mrs.Dale tossed her head, and her knitting-needles clicked viciously; then she told Lois that this was the rubber, and she had better see to the tray.

The young girl must have heard every word they said, though she had not lifted her bright eyes from her book, but she did not seem disturbed by the charge of fickleness on the part of Mr.Forsythe.He had not confided to her his reasons for not going abroad; all she knew was that the summer was the merriest one she had ever spent.

"I feel so young," little Lois said; and indeed she had caught a certain careless gayety from her almost daily companion, which did not belong to Ashurst.
But she gave no thought to his reason for staying, though her father and Mrs.Dale did, and with great satisfaction.
"What do you hear from Helen, brother ?" Mrs.Dale asked, as Lois rose to do her bidding.