She opened the bedroom door, and led the way back into the sitting-room.
"Gone again!" exclaimed Blanche, looking uneasily round the empty room.
"Anne! there's something so strange in all this, that I neither can, nor will, put up with your silence any longer.

It's not just, it's not kind, to shut me out of your confidence, after we have lived together like sisters all our lives!" Anne sighed bitterly, and kissed her on the forehead.

"You shall know all I can tell you--all I _dare_ tell you," she said, gently.

"Don't reproach me.

It hurts me more than you think." She turned away to the side table, and came back with a letter in her hand.