my boy's
dinner? No, not I! Put the chops down in the fender, Aggie. When George
comes in, I always ring the bell twice. How careless of Mrs. Robinson!
Effie, my dear, I don't think we can stop with her if she treats us in
this fashion. It's perfectly disgraceful to cook George's food before he
is ready for it."

Agnes began to explain that George was not coming home, but Effie
silenced her with a look. She saw, to her horror, that her mother's mind
was beginning to wander. She was really expecting George--who had not
the faintest idea of coming back. Poor Effie saw there was nothing for
it but to humor her mother. She put the food inside the fender, and
then, going to a davenport in a corner of the room, wrote a hasty letter
to Dorothy Fraser.

"We're in great trouble," she wrote. "I know you can't come. I know it
is absolutely impossible for you to come, but neither can I go back to
St. Joseph's this evening. Please tell Sister Kate, make any excuse for
me you like--say anything that comes into your head. My career as a
nurse is ended."

A big tear dropped from Effie's eyes as she wrote these last words. She
folded up the letter and gave it to Agnes.

"Agnes," she said, "you must take this at once to St. Joseph's
Hospital."

"Oh, I don't know how to get there," said Agnes, "and I was never out so
late before in the evening."

"I am sorry to have to send you--stay, you had better take Kate with
you. It would be better for the two of you to be together. Put on your
hats and your warm jackets; don't be longer away than you can help--you
have just to give this note to the hall porter and come straight back.
You must take the red omnibus that goes along Oxford Street, and----"

Effie added a few more practical directions. Agnes' eyes sparkled at the
thought of a little variety in her dull life. Katie ran willingly into
her room to fetch her own and her sister's hats and jacket's. They were
dressed in a very short time. Effie heard them running downstairs, and
listened to the slam of the hall door. She had now set the irrevocable
seal to her own act. She had deliberately turned her back on the life
that she loved. She stood for a moment with a dizzy feeling in her
head; then, with a little prayer which she sadly needed, to help her,
she put aside all regret, and turned with a brave heart to face the dark
present and the gloomy future.

Mrs. Staunton stood near the window, with her back to her daughter.
Effie list