I can't find out whether she
is ill or whether she has heard some bad news of which she will
not speak. She never gave me or any one that I know of much of her
confidence."
Mrs. Alston listened but made no comments. She was sure she was
right in regard to Miss Van Tyne's trouble, but her cousin
mystified her. Ackland had become perfectly inscrutable. As far as
she could judge by any word or act of his he had simply lost his
interest in Miss Van Tyne, and that was all that could be said;
and yet a fine instinct tormented Mrs. Alston with the doubt that
this was not true, and that the young girl was the subject of a
sedulously concealed scrutiny. Was he watching for his friend or
for his own sake, or was he, in a spirit of retaliation, enjoying
the suffering of one who had made others suffer? His reserve was
so great that she could not pierce it, and his caution baffled
even her vigilance. But she waited patiently, assured that the
little drama must soon pass into a more significant phase.
And she was right. Miss Van Tyne could not maintain the line of
action she had resolved upon.
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