Agnes did her best to reassure her, when she had seen her portfolio of water colour sketches--some of them charming open-air studies and others of the picturesque peasantry of the Biscayan provinces. She felt sure, she said, that if her drawings done by the direction of Mr. Westwood, were of the same quality as those in the portfolio, the publishers would be quite satisfied with them. Clare kissed her friend a dozen times in acknowledgment of her kind encouragement, but afterwards she shook her head despondently. “It is one thing to draw for my own amusement--to make these simple records of the places which I have visited and the people I hove seen, but quite another thing to illustrate a serious book--a book that is worth twenty-five thousand pounds. Just think of it! My drawings in a book that is worth such a sum--a book that will be in everybody's hands in the course of a month or two!” she cried, as she paced the room excitedly. “Oh yes; I know what every one will say: It would be far better if so valuable a book had not had its pages disfigured by such amateurish efforts! Oh yes; I have seen the criticisms in the English papers. I know what they will say. Oh, what a fool I was to agree to do the drawings!” “I don't think that you need be at all afraid to face such a task,” said Agnes. “But if you are, why not write to Mr. Westwood, telling him that you repent?” “Oh, I would be far more afraid to face him after that than to face the drawings,” cried the girl. “What would Mr. Westwood think of any one who would break a compact?” Agnes looked at her in silence for a few moments. She was tempted to tell Clare the full story of the compact which she had once made with that man, and the way in which he had broken it, ignoring the fact that it had ever been entered into by either of them. She felt tempted to ask her if the susceptibilities of such a man on the subject of compacts--especially those made with women--were to be greatly respected; but she controlled herself, and when Clare sat down with tearful eyes, she did her best to comfort her.