nt you. We preferred to be alone," said Grizel calmly.
She was perfectly composed, and there were no tear marks on her pallid
face. The nurse looked at her and wondered instinctively why people
called Miss Dundas a beauty. She fastened her dressing-gown, and made
the inevitable attempt at comfort.

"You must be exhausted. Let me make you a cup of tea!"

"Please do," returned Grizel heartily. "I adore stray teas!"

Most unfeeling! the nurse decided, but then, what could one expect? A
most disagreeable old woman, and such a fortune to inherit! She sighed,
stifling a pang of envy.

The will of Lady Griselda Dundas was published the week after her
funeral, and was the subject of comment in every large newspaper in the
kingdom. The disposal of so large a fortune was in itself interesting,
but the unusual conditions of the will attracted a curious attention.
Beyond a few insignificant legacies the entire property was bequeathed
to her niece, and adopted daughter, Miss Grizel Dundas, for the term of
her unmarried life. On her marriage she became entitled to an income of
five hundred a year, with a further sum of ten thousand pounds to be
paid down on her fiftieth birthday, the remainder of the vast property
being divided between certain charities, and a few distant relations,
scattered about the world.

Grizel Dundas was left then to decide between single blessedness and an
income approaching thirty thousand a year, and marriage on a pittance of
five hundred! Society wagged its tongue in excited effort to solve the
reason of the mystery. Lady Griselda's own unhappy marriage had made
her dread a similar experience for her niece. Grizel Dundas had been on
the eve of an imprudent marriage, from which the will was designed to
save her. Unsavoury facts had come to light concerning the private life
of a certain titled aspirant... Numerous theories were advanced, but
only one solution. Grizel Dundas was already twenty-eight, an age at
which the sentimental period might be supposed to be outlived; she would
accept the goods which the gods had given, and become one of the great
hostesses of society. Those seemingly lazy, easy-going people were
invariably the most practical at heart. Grizel Dundas was no fool. She
knew well enough on which side her bread was buttered.

And in The Glen, Martin and Katrine Beverley read the different notices
in strained silence, and referred to them in terse, difficult words.
Each