"No, because I did not take a woman's waywardness into consideration. I thought I had a right to count upon her regard, and I found myself mistaken." "Explain yourself," entreated Frank. "Will not to-morrow do? Here we are at home, and it must be one o'clock at least." "I should sleep better if I knew it all now," Frank intimated. "Well, then, come to my room; but there is nothing in the story to specially interest you. I loved her----" "Edgar, you must be explicit. I am half lawyer in listening to this tale; I want to understand these girls." "Girls? It is of Emma only that I have to speak." "I know, but tell the story with some details; tell me where you first met her." "Oh, if I must," sighed Edgar, who hated all talk about himself, "let's be comfortable." And throwing himself into a chair, he pointed out another to Frank. "This is more like it," acknowledged the latter. Edgar lit a cigar; perhaps he felt that he could hide all emotion behind its fumes. Frank did not take one. "I have known Emma Cavanagh ever since we were children," began Edgar. "As a school-boy I thought her the merriest-eyed witch in town.---- Is she merry now?" Frank shook his head. "Well, I suppose she has grown older, but then she was as full of laughter and fun as any blue-eyed Mischief could well be, and I, who have a cynical turn of mind, liked the brightness of hers as I shall never like her sadness--if she is sad. But that was in my adolescence, and being as shy as I was inclined to be cynical, I never showed her my preference, or even joined the mirthful company of which she was the head. I preferred to stand back and hear her laughter, or talk to Hermione while watching her sister." "Ah!" thought Frank. "When I went to college she went to school, and when I graduated as a doctor she was about graduating also. But she did not come home at that time for more than a fleeting visit. Friends wished her company on a trip abroad, and she went away from Marston just as I settled here for my first year of practice. I was disappointed at this, but I made what amends to myself I could by cultivating the acquaintance of her father, and making myself necessary to him by my interest in his studies. I spent much of my spare time at the house, and though I never asked after Emma, I used to get continual news of her from her sister." "Ah!" again ejaculated Frank to himself.