r chair close to the
window, and peering wistfully out into the storm.

But a tired feeling, caused by the great excitement She had undergone
that day, at length began to tell upon her, and her eyes drooped wearily
in spite of her every effort to keep them open, and at last, little by
little, they closed, and the long, dark, curling lashes, heavy with
unshed tears, lay still upon the delicately rounded cheeks.

Margery Brown bent forward, watching her eagerly.

"Asleep at last," she muttered, rising from her seat and crossing the
room with a stealthy, cat-like movement, until she reached Bernardine's
side.

Bending over her, she laid her hand lightly on her shoulder.

Bernardine stirred uneasily, muttering something in her, sleep about
"loving him so fondly," the last of the sentence ending in a troubled
sigh.

"They used to tell me that I had the strange gift of being able to
mesmerize people," she muttered. "We will see if I can do it _now_. I'll
try it."

Standing before Bernardine, she made several passes with her hands
before the closed eyelids. They trembled slightly, but did not open.
Again and again those hands waved to and fro before Bernardine with the
slowness and regularity of a pendulum.

"Ah, ha!" she muttered at length under her breath, "she sleeps sound
enough now."

She laid her hand heavily on Bernardine's breast. The gentle breathing
did not abate, and with a slow movement the hand slid down to the pocket
of her dress, fumbled about the folds for a moment, then reappeared,
tightly clutching the well-filled wallet.

"You can sleep on as comfortably as you like now, my innocent little
fool!" she muttered. "Good-night, and good-bye to you."

Hastily donning Bernardine's jacket and hat, the girl stole noiselessly
from the room, closing the door softly after her.

So exhausted was Bernardine, she did not awaken until the sunshine,
drifting into her face in a flood of golden light, forced the long black
lashes to open.

For an instant she was bewildered as she sat up in her chair, looking
about the small white room; but in a moment she remembered all that had
transpired.

She saw that she was the sole occupant of the apartment, and concluded
her room-mate must have gone to breakfast; but simultaneously with this
discovery, she saw that her jacket and hat were missing.

She was mystified at first, loath to believe that her companion could
have appropriated them, and left the torn and ragg