Adah's face, as she performed her accustomed
duties, brushing Anna's hair, and letting her hands linger caressingly
amid the locks she might never touch again.

It did strike Anna that something was the matter; for when Adah spoke to
her, the voice was husky and unnatural. Still, she paid no attention
until the chapter was read as usual and "Our Father" said; then, as Adah
lingered a moment, still kneeling by the bed, she laid her soft hand on
the young head, and asked, kindly, "if it ached."

"No, not my head, not my head," and Adah continued impetuously; "Anna,
tell me, have I pleased you?--do you like me? would you, could you love
me if I were your equal--love me as I do you?"

Anna noticed that the "Miss" was dropped from her name, that her maid
was treating her more familiarly than she had ever done before; and for
an instant a flush showed on her cheek, for pride was Anna's besetting
sin, the one from which she daily prayed to be delivered. There was an
inward struggle, a momentary conflict, such as every Christian warrior
has felt at times, and then the flush was gone from the white cheek, and
her hand still lay on Adah's head, as she replied: "I do not understand
why you question me thus, but I will answer just the same. I do like you
very much, and you have always seemed to me much like an equal. I could
hardly do without you now."

"And Willie? If I should die, or anything happen to me, would you care
for Willie?"

There was something very earnest in Adah's tone as she pleaded for her
boy, and had Anna been at all suspicious, she must have guessed there
was something wrong. As it was, she merely thought Adah tired and
nervous. She had been thinking, perhaps, of the deserted, and she
smoothed her hair pityingly as she replied: "Of course I'd care for
Willie. He has won a large place in my heart."

"Bless you for that. It has made me very happy," Adah whispered, arising
to her feet and adding: "You may think me bold, but I must kiss you
once--only once--for it will be pleasant to remember that I kissed Anna
Richards."

There was nothing cringing or even pleading in the tone. Adah seemed to
ask it as her right, and ere Anna could answer she had pressed one
burning kiss upon the smooth, white forehead which a menial's lips had
never touched before, and was gone from the room.

"Was she crazy, or what was it that ailed her?" Anna asked herself,
wondering more and more, the more she thought of the strange c