VALLEY

THE IMPOSSIBLE WORD 219Heof strangerhood they clasped hands of friendship.the hiddenknew her better in that ten minutes byspring than he knew Emmeline Drew or ElizabethKirk or Amy Annetta Douglas in a year, or couldknow them, in a century. He had fled to her for comfortwhen Mrs. Alec Davis had outraged his mindand soul and had found it.Since then he had goneoften to the house on the hill, slipping through theshadowy paths of night in Rainbow Valley so astutelythat Glen gossip could never be absolutely certain thathe did go to see Rosemary West.Once or twice hehad been caught in the West living room by othervisitors; that was all the Ladies' Aid had to go by.But when Elizabeth Kirk heard it she put away a secrethope she had allowed herself to cherish, without achange of expression on her kind plain face, andEmmeline Drew resolved that the next time she sawa certain old bachelor of Lowbridge she would notsnub him as she had done at a previous meeting. Ofcourse, if Rosemary West was out to catch the ministershe would catch him; she looked younger thanshe was and men thought her pretty ; besides, the Westgirls had money !"It is to be hoped that he won't be so absent-mindedas to propose to Ellen by mistake," was the onlymalicious thing she allowed herself to say to a sympatheticsister Drew. Emmeline bore no further grudgetowards Rosemary. When all was said and done, anunencumbered bachelor was far better than a widower