"'This is a strange story, Lina,' I said. 'What do you mean? Tell me, my child, or I shall think you crazy.' "She laid her head on her hands, which were clasped on the top of the escritoire, and half whispered,-- "'I am engaged,--I am married to some one else.' "I sprang from my seat, and caught her hands. "'You married, Lina? you? the quiet girl who has been teaching the children so well all these months?' "'Yes, Madame,' she said, with all her usual composure, 'and to a man I love with my whole soul, with my whole life. The future may seem dim, but I have little fear when I remember I am Arthur's wife, and that his love will be strong to help me whenever I relieve him of the promise I have obliged him to make not to reveal our marriage. Frank will be three-and-twenty in one year and a half from now; till then, he cannot, without great difficulty, harm my father, and by that time I trust his fancy for me will have passed away, and he will be willing to treat with my father about his property without personal feeling to aggravate his sense of the wrong that has been done him. He is in the East now with Colonel Lucas, his other guardian, who has not been without his suspicions of Frank's liking for me, and is not at all unwilling, I think, to keep him out of the way for a while.' "'Does no one know of this, Lina?' I asked, 'no one suspect it?' "'Only two persons,' she replied,--'indeed, I may as well tell you at once, Madame,--beside Mrs. Baxter and her husband, at whose house the ceremony took place. They were then staying in the neighborhood of H----, a few miles from my aunt's house. It was at Mrs. Baxter's I first met Arthur: he was a distant connection of hers. He and his Cousin Marmaduke had come up for the shooting and fishing for a few weeks in the autumn. My aunt was a genial, bright old lady, fond of the society of young people, spite of her ill health, and invited the young men frequently to her house. In that way I saw a great deal of them both.' "'Who was the gentleman, Lina? Had you seen him before this visit? But,' seeing she hesitated, 'if you do not wish to disclose more, say so frankly; what you have already told me I will guard as a secret,--you need not fear.' "'Oh, Madame,' interrupted Lina, suddenly throwing herself on the floor at my feet, 'it's not that,--do not say that, dear Madame! It is a great comfort to me to tell you all this; sometimes I feel so lonely when by any chance I do not get a letter from him the day I expect one.' "Her voice faltered, and she leaned forward, burying her face in her hands; I saw her breast shaken with weeping. "'Tell me all, _ma pauvre petite_!' I said; 'tell me everything.' "Then seeing she still continued weeping, I said, playfully,--