window for a few minutes before opening her letter. She felt very guilty and deceitful. She had never before kept a letter secret from her mother. Every letter she had ever written or received had been read by Mrs. Frederick. That had never mattered. Valancy had never had anything to hide. But this didmatter. She could not have any one see this letter. But her fingers trembled with a consciousness of wickedness and unfilial conduct as she opened it — trembled a little, too, perhaps, with apprehension. She felt quite sure there was nothing seriously wrong with her heart but — one never knew.

Dr. Trent’s letter was like himself — blunt, abrupt, concise, wasting no words. Dr. Trent never beat about the bush. “Dear Miss Sterling” — and then a page of black, positive writing.