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TRENT'S LAST CASE.

of her other good gifts, as any man could wish. But Manderson, for some time past, had made her miserable.'

'What did he do?' asked Trent, as Mr. Cupples paused.

'When I put that question to Mabel, her words were that he seemed to nurse a perpetual grievance. He maintained a distance between them, and he would say nothing. I don't know how it began or what was behind it; and all she would tell me on that point was that he had no cause in the world for his attitude. I think she knew what was in his mind, whatever it was; but she is full of pride. This seems to have gone on for months. At last, a week ago, she wrote to me. I am the only near relative she has. Her mother died when she was a child; and after John Peter died I was something like a father to her until she married–that was five years ago. She asked me to come and help her, and I came at once. That is why I am here now.'

Mr. Cupples paused and drank some tea. Trent smoked and stared out at the hot June landscape.

'I would not go to White Gables,' Mr.