It was all in vain Frank expressed his horror and surprise and grief that she was so reserved, she only shook her head. "No," she repeated drawing up her dainty little neck, and putting on an air of defiance, "No, I can take care of myself, if I am only sixteen. If it ever becomes necessary, I will tell you. Now let us talk of something more agreeable." "But, Helen, remember that I promised Father to watch over you as tenderly as he could have done. You must explain your unaccountable behaviour. I will not go back to College, and leave you so. Between wonder and anxiety, I scarcely slept at all last night." "Do you want me to become a laughing-stock for all these people?" she inquired, her cheeks crimson with excitement. "I should be crying before I said ten words." She turned suddenly away to the window and for some time appeared absorbed in the prospect without. But at last, hearing her brother sigh repeatedly, she touched his hand and said humbly: "Don't worry, Frank. I'm a bad girl; and I'm afraid I shall grow worse, with all sorts of hard feeling rankling in my breast; but when we are at home, we will take a walk to my pretty arbor, and I'll make a full confession of all that concerns myself. That's what I'm going to Maytown for, you know. Come, Mr. Junior, can't you be agreeable? With that solemn face, our neighbors will think you are my jealous lover, or a very stern guardian, which you are not." A few hours later the happy pair, for the time throwing behind them all anxious thoughts, wandered off from the cottage of their old nurse to the garden and grove belonging to the estate. The place had been rented for two years by an aged couple who were in search of quiet, and who gladly gave permission to the youthful owners to ramble wherever they pleased. "I can breathe here," cried Helen, expanding her chest and inhaling large draughts of the sweet, fresh country air. "The fragrance from the flowers and the new mown lawn is perfectly delightful." Then with a sudden change of tone and manner, she turned to her brother, stopping in her walk, and inquired: "Frank, what would be the result if we told Mr. Tracy that we preferred Mr. Knowles for our guardian? "But, Sis, under the circumstances Mr. Knowles would not accept the trust." "What if I could persuade him? Don't you remember what he said the day we left dear papa under the sycamore trees? "'If you are ever in trouble, my child, come to me as to a father. My heart and my home are ever open to receive the children of my best parishioner.'" Frank walked for some distance in silence, his sister closely and rather impatiently watching him. "I am not sufficiently acquainted with the law, to understand whether wards have a right to change their guardian except for some delinquence in regard to the trust. Perhaps Mr. Tracy would be glad to be rid of the responsibility."