Brownie was startled at her deep emotion. She had spoken lightly, and with no thought that she was probing an old wound. She sprang up quickly, and seeing the fair old face above her almost convulsed with agony, she twined her arms about her neck, saying, remorsefully: “Auntie, dear, forgive me! Have I touched some hidden spring of sorrow? I would not have wounded you so for the world.” “Dear child, would you like to read a sad page in an old woman’s history?” “No, dear auntie, do not talk of anything that gives you pain. Forgive me for speaking in a way that should recall anything to distress you,” said the young girl, sadly. “You did not think to pain me, and I am glad now that the conversation has taken this turn, for I would like you to know something of what my past has been.” “Let us wait until some other time—you are tired and ought to rest now,” pleaded Brownie, recoiling from a revelation she believed would be painful. “No, Brownie, something prompts me to tell you now, and I will obey the call. The book of my life is almost written, love, and it will do me no harm to review it once more before it is closed forever. I have borne my sorrow alone for forty-five years, and it seems as if it would do me good to breathe it to some one who would give me sympathy and remember it tenderly when I am gone.” Brownie’s little hand fluttered down upon Miss Mehetabel’s lips, and the tears sprang to her eyes. “Let us not talk about it, auntie; I don’t like you to speak about going away from me. I should be desolate without you, if I had ever so much money,” and the bright face wore a look of pain. Miss Douglas drew the shining head down to her, and kissed the sweet lips. “Well, well, so be it, though it must come sooner or later; but we will talk no more of it now. You are very precious to me, darling, and your love has been the only brightness of my life for the past eighteen years,” she said softly. “Go lock the door,” she added, after a moment, “so that we may be uninterrupted; then draw a chair beside me, and I’ll tell you how I came to be an old maid. It may be a lesson that will do you good.” Brownie glided softly to the door and turned the key. Then she drew a low rocker and seated herself beside Miss Douglas, while a feeling of solemnity took possession of her, as she realized that a hidden page of life was about to be turned back for her to read. CHAPTER III THE AUNT’S STORY “You know who the Douglases are?” began Miss Mehetabel, bracing herself up, with a look of pride. “Oh, yes; you have always given me to understand that they belonged to a very honorable race.”