probably did not hear, she is slightly deaf," Mr. Pyecroft
explained. He bent over Mrs. De Peyster, made a trumpet of one hand,
and raised his voice. "Angelica, if any other person comes into the
house, you are to say that young Mrs. De Peyster is your daughter. You
understand?"

Mrs. De Peyster nodded.

"And of course you'll say it?"

For a moment Mrs. De Peyster was again rigid. Then slowly she nodded.

The spirit of the masquerade seized upon Mary. "Oh, mother dear,--what
a comfort to have you!" she cried with mischievous glee; and arms wide
as if for a daughterly embrace she swept toward Mrs. De Peyster.

Mrs. De Peyster shriveled back. She stopped living. In another
moment--

But the Reverend Mr. Pyecroft, _alias_ Archibald Simpson, _alias_
Thomas Preston, _alias_ God knows what else, stepped quickly between
her and the on-coming Mary, and with an air of brotherly concern held
out an intercepting hand.

"No excitement, please. The doctor's orders."

"Is it anything serious?" Mary asked anxiously.

"We hope not," in a grave voice. "It is chiefly nervous exhaustion due
to a period of worry over a trying domestic situation."

"That's too bad!" Very genuine sympathy was in Mary's soft contralto.
"But if she's unwell, she ought to have more air. Why don't you draw
up that heavy veil?"

"S-s-h! Not so loud, I beg you. If she heard you speak of her veil, it
would pain her greatly. You see," Mr. Pyecroft unhesitatingly went
on in a low, compassionate tone, "our sister, while trying to light a
gasoline stove--It was a gasoline stove, was it not, Matilda?"

"Ah--er--ye-yes," corroborated Matilda.

"A gasoline stove, yes," continued the grave voice of Mr. Pyecroft.
"It was during the very first year after her marriage. The explosion
that followed disfigured her face frightfully. She is extremely
sensitive; so much so that she invariably wears a heavy veil when she
goes out of her own house."

"Why, how terrible!" cried Mary.

"Yes, isn't it! All of our family have felt for poor Angelica most
deeply. And furthermore, she is sensitive about her deafness--which, I
may add, was caused by the same accident. And her various misfortunes
have made her extremely shy, so the less attention that is paid to
her, the happier the poor creature is."

Mary withdrew among the others. Slowly Mrs. De Peyster returned once
more to life. She hardly knew how she had escaped, save that it had
been through some miracle of that