“Not as happy as she expected!” said Annie, repeating a question of Seth’s; “you can’t guess how wretched she is! Sometimes it’s all she can do to keep from breaking down. I am literally the only person she has to talk to, that she cares about, week in and week out. Albert is away a great deal. I don’t think he is much company when he _is_ home. She did try, when she first came, to make some acquaintances round about, among the well-to-do farmers’ wives. But she couldn’t bear them, and they said she was stuck up, and so _that_ came to nothing. She doesn’t get on at all with Aunt Sabrina, either. Poor girl! she is so blue at times that my heart aches for her. Of course she wouldn’t let you see it. Besides she has been ever so much more cheerful since you came. I _do_ hope you will stay as long as you can--just for _her_ sake.” She added this explanation with what sounded to Seth’s ear like gratuitous emphasis. The disposition rose swiftly within him to resent this. “You are very careful,” he said, “to have me understand that it’s for her sake you want me to stay.” Then he felt, even while the sound of his voice was in the air, that he had made a fool of himself. His cousin did not accept the individual challenge. “No, of course we are all glad to see you. You know we are. But _she_ specially needs company; it’s a mercy to her to have somebody to brighten her up a little. Really, I get anxious about her at times. I try to run over as much as I can, but then I have grandmother to tend, you know.” “How is the old lady, by the way? And oh--tell me, Annie, what it was that all at once set her against me so. You remember--the day before we went fishing, and Isabel saved my life.” The answer did not come immediately. In the dim starlight Seth could see that his cousin’s face was turned away, and he guessed rather than saw that she was agitated. “I will tell you,” she said at last, nervously, “why grandmother--or, no, I will _not_ tell you! You have no right to ask. Don’t come any further, I am near enough to the house now. Good night.” She had hurried away from him. He watched her disappear in the darkness, then turned and walked meditatively home. He was not so sure as he had been that it was easy to understand women. CHAPTER XV.--MR. RICHARD ANSDELL.