"You are right," replied Miss Wyllys, in a faltering voice; and seating herself by her niece, she continued, "He is well. If he is in trouble, it is from his own choice. Have you no suspicions, my dearest child, of what has happened?" "Suspicions!"--exclaimed Elinor, in astonishment, "what is there for me to suspect? My dearest Aunt, I am more and more perplexed--explain it all yourself--who is it you are concerned for?" "My only concern is for you, dearest; my only regret, that trouble should have been brought on you by those dear to you--by your grandfather, by myself, by your cousins." "By you!--by my cousins--what cousins?" "Harry--Jane--Have you remarked nothing?" "Harry! what can he have done?" "You must forget him," said Miss Wyllys; and as Elinor looked eagerly in her aunt's eyes, she read there all that Miss Agnes had not courage to tell in words. Half starting from her seat, she exclaimed, "Harry!--and Jane too!" and as a deadly paleness came over her face, she fell back, unconscious, on the sofa. Her faintness lasted but a moment; too short a time, indeed, to allow the impression of what she had heard to pass from her mind. She burst into tears. "Oh, Aunt Agnes!--Is it really true?--Can Harry have changed? can he have been so unkind to me?--And Jane, too!" she exclaimed at intervals. Her aunt answered only by her caresses, silently pressing her lips upon Elinor's forehead. Elinor threw her arms about Miss Agnes's neck, weeping bitterly. "But is it really true? Is there not some mistake? Is it possible he felt so little for me? Oh, dearest Aunt!--and Jane, too!" Miss Wyllys said that she knew nothing of Jane's feelings; but that the manner of both Jane and Harry had struck her several times as singular; though now but too easily accounted for. During the last ten days, she had begun to fear something wrong. "Never, for one second, had I a doubt of either!" cried Elinor. She now dreaded to receive the letter, she had before asked for so eagerly. A package had been given by Harry to the chambermaid, that morning, requesting her to place it in Miss Agnes's hands as soon as she left her room. It contained three letters. That to Miss Agnes herself, was full and explicit. He now wrote, he said, because he felt concealment to be no longer possible, after the manner in which he had betrayed himself on hearing of the steamboat accident. He felt convinced that his emotion had been observed by Miss Wyllys, and he almost hoped the suspicions of Elinor had been aroused. He hoped it, for he felt that longer concealment would be unworthy of Elinor, and of himself, since he had not been able to control his feelings. He acknowledged that a frank confession was now due to her.