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"I cannot conceive how it could be any pain to Mr Farebrother," said

Fred, who nevertheless felt that surprising conceptions were beginning

to form themselves

"Precisely; you cannot conceive," said Mrs Garth, cutting her words as

neatly as possible

For a moment Fred looked at the horizon with a dis with a quick movement said almost sharply--

"Do you mean to say, Mrs Garth, that Mr Farebrother is in love with

Mary?"

"And if it were so, Fred, I think you are the last person who ought to

be surprised," returned Mrs Garth, laying her knitting down beside her

and folding her arn of emotion in her that

she should put her work out of her hands In fact her feelings were

divided between the satisfaction of giving Fred his discipline and the

sense of having gone a little too far Fred took his hat and stick and

rose quickly

"Then you think I a in his way, and in Mary's too?" he said,

in a tone which seemed to demand an answer

Mrs Garth could not speak iht herself into

the unpleasant position of being called on to say what she really felt,

yet what she knew there were strong reasons for concealing And to her