Nina

Thus without a counsellor or friend was
Edith left to follow the bent of her inclinations; and on this
April morning, as she rode along, mentally chiding Arthur for not
entrusting his secret to her, she wondered how she had ever
managed to be happy without him, and if the time would ever come
when her visits to Grassy Spring would cease.

Leaving Bedouin at the rear gate she walked slowly to the house,
glancing often in the direction of the DEN, the windows of which
were open this morning, and as she came near she saw a pair of
soft blue eyes peering at her through the lattice, then a little
hand was thrust outside, beckoning to her as it did once before.

"Wait, Miggie, while I write," came next to her ear, in a voice as
sweet and plaintive as a broken lute.

Instantly Edith stopped, and at last a tiny note came fluttering
to her feet. Grasping it eagerly she read, in a pretty, girlish
hand: "DARLING MIGGIE:--Nina has been SO sick this great long while, and
her head is so full of pain. Why don't you come to me, Miggie? I
sit and wait and listen till my forehead thumps and thumps, just
as a bad nurse thumped it once down in the Asylum.

"Let's run away--you and I; run back to the magnolias, where it's
always summer, with no asylums full of wicked people.