“‘To see you,’ I answered foolishly.

“‘And has Cassandra spoken of me?’ Her pale face grew paler, and an indescribable expression passed over it.  ’I do not often speak of her.’

“‘She does not of you,’ I was obliged to answer.  And then I said I must go.  But your mother made me dine with them.  When I came away Veronica offered me her hand, but she sent no message to you.  She has never been out of my mind a moment since.”

“You remember the particulars of the interview very well.”

“Why not?”

“Would she bear your supervision?”

“Forgive me, Cassandra.  Have I not been making a hermit of myself, eating bread and meat by the ounce, for an expiation?”

“How did it look there?  Oh, tell me!”

“You strange girl, have you a soul then?  It is a grand place, where it has not been meddled with.  I hired a man to drive me as far as any paths went, into those curving horns of land, on each side of Surrey to the south.  The country is crazy with barrenness, and the sea mocks it with its terrible beauty.”

“You will visit us, won’t you?”

“Certainly; I intend to go there.”

“Do you know that I left school to-day?”

“It is time.”

I hurried into the house, for I did not wish to hear any questions from him concerning my future.  Charlotte, who was rolling up an umbrella in the hall, said it was tea-time, adding that Mr. Morgeson had come, and that he was in the dining-room.  I went upstairs to leave my bonnet.  As I pulled off my glove the ring on my finger twisted round.  I took it off, for the first time since Charles had given it to me.  A sense of haste came upon me; my hands trembled.  I brushed my hair with the back of the brush, shook it out, and wound it into a loose mass, thrust in my comb and went down.  Charlotte was putting candles on the tea table.  Edward was on his father’s knee; Alice was waiting by the tray.

“Here—­is—­Cassandra,” said Charles, mentioning the fact as if he merely wished to attract the child’s attention.

“Here—­is—­Cassandra,” I repeated, imitating his tone.  He started.  Some devil broke loose in him, and looking through his eyes an instant, disappeared, like a maniac who looks through the bars of his cell, and dodges from the eye of his keeper.  Jesse brought me a letter while we were at the table.  It was from Helen.  I broke its seal to see how long it was, and put it aside.

“I am free, Alice.  I have left the Academy, and am going to set up for an independent woman.”

“What?” said Charles; “you did not tell me.  Did you know it, Alice?”

“Yes; we can’t expect her to be at school all her days.”

“Cassandra,” he said suddenly, “will you give me the salt?”

He looked for the ring on the hand which I stretched toward him.

He not only missed that, but he observed the disregard of his wishes in the way I had arranged my hair.  I shook it looser from the comb and pushed it from my face.  An expression of unspeakable passion, pride, and anguish came into his eyes; his mouth trembled; he caught up a glass of water to hide his face, and drank slowly from it.