to dispel by talking of other things; and
now it was too late. I dared not question
him; but guessed what it was, in various
ways; yet all having reference to the one
idea that haunted me at all times, and in all
places; but never with one bitter thought
towards him— never with a doubt that even
his secresy, so unusual as it was, must have
good reason for it.

Something, indeed, weighed heavily on his
mind. I could not doubt that; I felt it
when I was with him, in every tone and
movement. Some months had passed like
this, when one evening I went to his counting-
house to talk with him on some trifling
matters. He generally took tea with his
father, or sometimes alone in his room,
among his papers, where he would sit till it
was late, writing or reading. I came down
a passage into his house, and could see into
his room in the daytime, across a grated
area on one, side. This evening he had not
drawn down his curtains, and with the light
in the room, I could see through the wire
blind of his window. His tea-service was
beside him as usual: but the fire was out,
and the lamp beside him threw a dim light
even with its shade. Garnett was seated at
his table, where he had evidently been busily
engaged. His arms were resting on the
desk, and his face was buried in his hands.
He was not asleep; for I saw him move,
look up, and then return to the same
attitude.

It might have been merely weariness, or
perhaps some feeling of illness resulting
from his unceasing labour; but I felt that
there was something more than this. In
spite of my own trouble, I was touched with
compassion for him. What could that grief
be, in which I might not soothe him? The
question startled me, even then, as if it had
never come before, by day or night, to
torture me. But I resolved that I would not
be silent any more. That night should bring
my trouble to some issue.

Garnett opened the door to me, and I
followed him in. He asked me if I had seen
his father, who had been away, he said,
nearly all day, on business, and had promised
to return earlier. I took this for a passing
remark, and answered that I had not seen
him.

"You are in trouble, Garnett," I said;
"What is it?"

He started slightly, and answered,
Nothing,— nothing that he need weary others
with; he was not well.

I was not deceived by this; I knew that
there was something more; some cause for
that depressed and anxious look, which, for
some reason, he would not tell me.

"Phil," I said, after a while, "you must
tell me this; for I cannot rest until I have
done my part to relieve you. Is it not for
my sake you are silent."

He made some involuntary motion that
looked like assent; but seemed to check
himself.

"Come," I said, laying my hand upon his
arm, "let me try to guess it. Your trouble
is in some way connected with my cousin,
Alice Vanderlinden?"

To my surprise, he looked at me calmly;
shook his head, and even smiled. It was
clear to me that he felt relieved, for his tone
was at once more cheerful. "Why, Hess,"
said he, shaking hands with me, in his old
way, "this tells me quite a long history.
You have got into your head that I had
fallen in love with your cousin, and hoped to
rob you of her— for yours, if I can interpret
signs, she shall be one day. Absurd! Never
in my life did I dream of such a prize. I
was always a poor man, even when I thought
myself most prosperous; and she always rich
compared with me. Besides, I never thought
of this."

His sudden change of manner, and the
unexpected declaration which he had made,
struck me dumb. What folly had I been
guilty of? How had I racked myself without
any cause, where but one plain
outspoken word had sufficed to end all in a
moment!

"What could make you think this, Hess?"
he continued. "So often as I have seen her,
if I had nourished such a thought, it could
not have been secret. It was a thing which
her father must have known — and which
you, above all, could not have been ignorant
of."

I could only grasp his hand, and say "God
bless you, Phil," and own that I had been
hasty and unjust towards him.

"Why it would have been a base thing,"
he continued," to steal into her house, and
try to win her in the way you have
imagined."

"It is true, Garnett," I said, after a while,
"Quite true. I thought my friendship for
you perfect, absolutely without spot or stain,
— such a friendship as must be rare indeed.
Now I know that there was something wanting,
something that could have made such
thoughts as I have lately encouraged quite
impossible."

"Think no more of it," said Garnett.
"Alice, I am sure, will find that she has no
less affection for you; and her father, I know,
esteems you too well to regret this. May
you all be happy."

He said this, as he held my hand, with so
much tenderness, and in a tone so low and
impressive, that all my anxiety about him
returned. I pressed him again to tell me
what ailed him; but he tried to treat it
lightly, and promised that I should know all
by that night week. While he was speaking,
I heard a tapping at the outer door, at
which I had entered. Garnett rose when he
heard it, and bade me hastily good night,
letting me out by another way. I heard him
afterwards open the other door, and let in