“Ah, could he see you now, your faith alone would win him. We will hope the best of your hero, and try to wait with patience his coming. And so my pet could not trust the old woman with her secret?” “No, it was _not_ I could not _trust_ you. I could not bear to have my love made light of.” “Ah, you did not know that this old and withered heart was once as trusting and fresh as your own. But we will not talk of that now,” she said, with a sigh; then added, softly, “My own darling, I love you too dearly to ever make light of anything which you consider sacred; so don’t ever shut me out in the cold again.” Dora threw her arms around her aunt’s neck, and said, while she rained kisses upon her wrinkled face: “You are the best and dearest auntie in the whole world, and I love you—almost as well as I do somebody else.” Madame Alroyd lovingly returned her embrace, while at the same time she slyly wiped a tear from her eye. The dressing-bell for dinner now rang, and both hastened to make their toilets; while Dora’s heart was relieved of half its burden by the blessed influence of love and sympathy. CHAPTER XV. THE FORGED LETTER. In direct contradiction to the note which Robert received, Mr. Ellerton bent his steps toward the Glenburn House, where, despite the crowd of visitors, he had managed to obtain rooms. He sought in vain for his son among the throng that poured out from the institute. He then found one of the professors and asked him to send Robert to him, if he should find him. The professor had politely told him that he would send to his boarding-place, and inform him of his father’s arrival, which he did, and with what success future chapters will show. Thanking him for his kindness, Mr. Ellerton then returned to the hotel, where he waited with ill-disguised impatience for Robert’s appearance. At the dinner-table Madame Alroyd and Dora sat directly opposite Mr. Ellerton; and as his eyes fell upon the graceful and familiar beauty of our heroine, he started violently, and during the whole meal intently studied her features. Dora had recognized him at a glance, and all her old anger toward him revived instantly. For she could not forget how bitterly he had opposed Robert’s love for her, nor the sarcastic insinuations he had cast at her mother. She wondered why Robert was not with his father, if they had seen each other at all. She wondered also if he had fully forgiven his father for his former harshness and ill-treatment, and if Mr. Ellerton was as cross and unyielding as ever. She glanced up furtively at him, as her thoughts reached this crisis, and caught his eye fastened earnestly and thoughtfully upon her. Her own dropped instantly, and with almost a guilty feeling; for she felt as if he must have read her thoughts, so searching had been his glance.