lf. "_My_ joy is over for to-day!" And she turned
away with the letter in her hand.

But she did not place it in the same drawer with the others. She moved
across to the little carved triptych, and, after listening a moment to
the sounds in the house, she opened its closed doors with a gold key
that hung on her watch-chain and had been hidden in the bosom of
her dress.

The doors fell open. Inside, on a background of dark velvet, hung two
miniatures, lightly framed in gold and linked together by a graceful
scroll-work in gold. They were of fine French work, and they represented
a man and woman, both handsome, young, and of a remarkable distinction
of aspect. The faces, nevertheless, hardly gave pleasure. There was in
each of them a look at once absent and eager--the look of those who have
cared much and ardently for "man," and very little, comparatively,
for men.

The miniatures had not been meant for the triptych, nor the triptych for
them. It had been adapted to them by loving hands; but there was room
for other things in the velvet-lined hollow, and a packet of letters was
already reposing there. Julie slipped the letter of the morning inside
the elastic band which held the packet; then she closed and locked the
doors, returning the key to its place in her dress. Both the lock and
hinges of this little hiding-place were well and strongly made, and when
the wings also were shut and locked one saw nothing but a massively
framed photograph of the Bruges belfry resting on a wooden support.

She had hardly completed her little task when there was a sudden noise
of footsteps in the passage outside.

"Julie!" said a light voice, subdued to a laughing whisper. "May I come
in?"

The Duchess stood on the threshold, her small, shell-pink face emerging
from a masterly study in gray, presented by a most engaging costume.

Julie, in surprise, advanced to meet her visitor, and the old butler,
who was Miss Le Breton's very good friend, quickly and discreetly shut
the door upon the two ladies.

"Oh, my dear!" said the Duchess, throwing herself into Julie's arms. "I
came up so quietly! I told Hutton not to disturb Lady Henry, and I just
crept up-stairs, holding my skirts. Wasn't it heroic of me to put my
poor little head into the lion's den like this? But when I got your
letter this morning saying you couldn't come to me, I vowed I would just
see for myself how you were, and whether there was anything left of you.
Oh, you po