'Yes,' he continued, 'I see now we were quite unsuited to one another. I should never have made you happy, Ella; it's best to find it out before it's too late. So let us shake hands and say good-bye, my dear.' She felt powerless to appeal to him, and yet it was not wholly pride that tied her tongue; she was too shaken and stunned to make the least effort at remonstrance. 'Then, if it must be,' she said at last, very low--'good-bye, George.' He crushed her hand in his strong grasp. 'Don't mind about me,' he said roughly. 'You've nothing to blame yourself for. I daresay I shall get over it all right. It's rather sudden at first--that's all!' And with that he was gone. Flossie, coming in a little later, found her sister sitting by the window, smiling in a strange, vacant way. '_Well?_' said Flossie eagerly, for she had been anxiously waiting to hear the result of the interview. 'It's all over, Flossie; he has broken it off.' 'Oh, Ella, I'm so glad! I _hoped_ he would, but I wasn't sure. Well, you may thank me for delivering you, darling. If I hadn't spoken plainly----' 'Tell me what you said.' 'Oh, let me see. Well, I told him anybody else would have seen long ago that your feelings were altered. I said you were perfectly miserable at having to marry him, only you thought it was too late to say so. I told him he didn't understand you in the least, and you hadn't a single thought or taste in common. I said if he cared about you at all, the best way he could prove it was by setting you free, and not spoiling your life and his own too. I put it as pleasantly as I could,' said Flossie naively, 'but he is very trying!' 'You told him all that! What made you invent such wicked, cruel lies? Flossie, it is you that have spoilt our lives, and I will never forgive you--never, as long as I live!' 'Ella!' cried the younger sister, utterly astonished at this outburst. 'Why, didn't you tell me the other day how miserable you were, and how you dared not speak about it? And now, when I----' 'Go away, Flossie; you have done mischief enough!' 'Oh, very well, I'm going--if this is all I get for helping you. Is it _my_ fault if you don't know your own mind, and say what you don't mean? And if you really want your dearly beloved George back again, there's time yet; he hasn't gone--he's in the drawing-room with mother.' How infinitely petty her past misery seemed now! for what trifles she had thrown away George's honest heart! If only there was a chance still! at least false pride should not come between them any longer: so thought Ella on her way to the drawing-room. George was still there; as she turned the door-handle she heard her mother's clear resonant tones. 'Not that that is any excuse for Ella,' she was saying. Ella burst precipitately into the room. She was only just in time, for George had risen and was evidently on the point of leaving. 'George,' she exclaimed, panting after her rapid flight, 'I--I came to tell you----'