'Hester,' said Maude, with arms affectionately twined round her, 'I used to think that you and Roland were very fond of each other!' 'So we were,' said Hester in a low voice. 'Were?' 'Are, I mean--very fond of each other. Why should we be otherwise?' stammered poor Hester, turning away for a moment. 'I mean--I thought (uncle Harry used to quiz you both so much!) he cared for you, and you for him more--more----' 'Than cousins usually do?' 'Yes.' 'Oh, no--no--you mistake, dear Maude.' 'Well--it seems Annot now; and yet I hope--ah, no--it cannot be.' One fact soon became too apparent to Roland Lindsay: that his sister Maude did not like Annot Drummond now, if she ever did. 'I never saw a girl so changed since we were at school together at Madame Raffineur's in Belgium--even since I saw her last in London!' said Maude; 'why, Roland, she has become quite an artful little woman of the world!' 'Artful--oh, Maude!' he expostulated. 'Girls in their confidential moods say and admit many things their best friends know nothing of; but don't let me vex you, dear Roland. However, I don't like to hear Annot boast of enjoying cigarettes and being a good shot.' 'All talk, Maude; she takes a waggish delight in startling you country folks. I'd stake a round sum on it, she never tried either,' he replied, with undisguised irritation. Maude was silent for a moment; but she would have been more than blind had she not seen how Annot and her brother were affected to each other, and she disliked it. 'You love Annot then?' she asked. 'I do.' 'And mean to--to marry her?' 'I hope so.' 'With Annot you have not a sentiment in common; and marriage between two persons whose tastes are diverse is a great error.' 'If our tastes are so; but surely we know our own minds, little one, quite as much as you and Jack Elliot of ours do.' 'There now--you are angry with me!' said Maude, with a pout on her lip. 'Angry--not at all, Maude; who could be angry with you? But I am disappointed a little.' 'And so am I--not a little, but very much.' 'How?' 'I always thought you were attached to our sweet and earnest-eyed Hester.' 'And so I am,' replied Roland, selecting a cigar with great apparent care; 'but, as a cousin, you know.' 'And now it seems to be Annot!' said Maude, with her white hands folded on her knee and looking up at him with an air of annoyance. 'Beyond my admissions just made, what led you to think so?' 'A thousand things! I am not blind, nor is anyone else. According to what you have said, then you must be engaged!' 'Well--yes.' 'And you keep it a secret?' 'Yes.' 'But why?' 'Surely, Maude, that should be obvious to you. Till I can see old Mr. MacWadsett and have certain matters cleared up.' 'You are wise. But Annot, does she, too, wish the engagement kept secret?' 'Decidedly, from the world at least,' 'A comprehensive word; but why?' 'I have a little tour in Egypt before me yet.'