And then the mother went down on her knees, and prayed that her words, if even they had not been wisely spoken, might be overruled for good, and that God would undertake for these, her dear children, in the future as He had done in the past. Elsie, too, was in her own room, to which she had hurried when she escaped a meeting with Miss Chatterton by means of the convenient window. Surely no girl's face had ever undergone a greater change in so short a time as had hers. The sweet, shy look, the mischief-loving expression, the one which conveyed a whole wealth of affection as it was turned towards her mother—each and all were gone. Instead of these was one of unnatural thoughtfulness, as if the child were trying to solve some unsatisfactory problem. "You and Katie." Mrs. Manning had coupled the names, as if they stood in exactly the same position to Mr. Gilmour, and were, as she put it, equally in danger. Could she, Elsie, have made a great mistake? Could she really have done anything unmaidenly? Had she given Douglass Gilmour cause to think she sought him, followed him, or was putting herself more forward than was becoming a pure-minded girl? Even to imagine the possibility of such a construction made the girl's cheek flush and flame. Yet her mother, her darling, tender, indulgent mother, had thought it necessary to speak to her. She must have done something to call forth words such as had never been addressed to her before. She had laughed at and thought lightly of them at first, but now the memory was a pain. Elsie looked back over the three happy months of their acquaintance with Douglass Gilmour, and, as she did so, made a severe comparison between his conduct towards herself and Katie. After all, how brotherly he had been to both of them! Each had been enlisted to help in some branch of work; each was accustomed to consult him, and be consulted about it. If he showed a kindness to one, he did the same to the other. And yet it had seemed to Elsie that there was a subtle, indefinable something in Douglass Gilmour's manner towards herself that had never been manifested towards Katie. Or she had thought so. Had she made the terrible mistake of giving what had not been asked for? Just at this moment, when the girl was catechising herself in the most unsparing fashion, in came Katie, bright and bonny, panting a little with hurrying upstairs to dress for dinner. "Elsie, you are ready. Give me a little help, like a darling, as you are; for I am late. I met Mr. Gilmour in Rathbury. He had been visiting some poor people in my district this morning, and wanted to give me a hint or two before leaving home for a time. What a good man he is! And how the poor love him! He is quite one of my heroes."