Catty Clowrie was not the only young lady in Speckport puzzled by Miss Henderson's remarkable conduct. Laura Blair was bothering her poor little brain with the enigma, and could not solve it, though she tried ever so.
"Olly, dear," she said, in a perplexed tone, when she came to the cottage next day, and up in Olive's room seated herself for a confidential chat, "have you quarreled with Captain Cavendish?"
Olive was reclining in a vast Sleepy Hollow of an armchair, looking pale and fagged; for she had been at a ball the previous night, and lay with her hands folded listlessly in her lap, and the lazy lids hiding the splendor of her eyes. She hardly took the trouble to lift these heavy eyelids, as she replied:
"No—yes. Why?"
"Because, he's gone away, dear! I thought you knew it. He has gone off on leave of absence to Canada, I believe."
"Indeed!" Miss Henderson said, indifferently. "When did he go?"
"He left in the steamer for Portland, Maine, this morning. Olly, dearest, will you not tell me what it is all about?"
"All what is about?" asked Olive, impatiently.
Laura looked frightened; she always got scared when Miss Henderson's big black eyes flashed.
"You won't be angry, my darling Olly? but I thought—every one thought—you were going to marry Captain Cavendish."