Nellie sat very quiet too. Would Walter ask her this time if she had any secrets? She hoped not; but perhaps he would be too taken up to think of her. Then a pang of jealousy shot across her heart; a pang instantly rebuked and confessed; but the thought filled her eyes with tears. Not the thought that she was no longer first with her beloved brother, but of grief that she could have even regretted it for a moment. In her pocket lay a letter from Hope Elliot, received that morning, which as yet she had not had an opportunity to show to Christina. "We cannot think" (the letter said) "what can have come to Wilmot. He writes to tell us that he will be down for Christmas; but that he thinks of going abroad. He will explain his plans to mamma, he says, and obtain her sanction, and then he means to be off at once." "Have you seen him lately, Nellie? And can you tell us what wild scheme he has got in his head? Of course mamma will persuade him out of it, or I hope so; but it is too tiresome to even suppose he will throw up his good prospects here, and go out there on a wild-goose chase." "Before, however, you have time to answer this letter, we shall see him for ourselves, and be able to hear all about it." Hope then went on to give her another and pleasanter piece of news. "I have told you about Jack Morland, the young canoeist, whom we have got to know. Well, yesterday, he came to mamma's quite unexpectedly, and made Maude an offer, which she has accepted, and the young people are very happy. Mamma is pleased, for he is a very nice fellow, and we are all full of excitement." This letter, with its double news, was lying in Nellie's pocket. She felt conscious of it all the time, with a dim impression of a hidden pain. She had told the wedding news in it at once; but the other must be confirmed before she would mention it. There was a sudden "Hush!" from several of them. Yes, it was a cab at last stopping at the house; then everybody hurried to the door, and crowded down the stairs while Walter was being admitted, Miss Arbuthnot even going to the landing, and Christina and Tom were left alone. He did not attempt to speak to her, and it was only a moment of intense bustle of arrival in the hall, before a quick light step was heard on the stairs, and Walter was once more with Christina, whom he had so longed to see. When they could settle down to anything of quiet, after Arthur and he had helped in the carrying up of his heavy packages, all felt the blank in their midst. Walter looked round the room with a sudden realization of what he had known and expected. His eyes met his father's, and both understood each other's thoughts. Then Dr. Arundel spoke to them all, gravely and lovingly: