did you?"

"No! were you?" asked Mrs. Forrest, with dilating eyes. "And Fanny
knew,--and did not tell me----"

"Yes. We were members of the same club, and I used to see a great deal
of him before coming West." It was very long before, and it was only
seeing, but Bayard did not care to explain this. He wished to convey
the idea that his acquaintance with the old gentleman had been recent
and confidential, and he succeeded.

"How strange that you should be here--where she is. I'm sure Captain
Forrest has no idea of it, doctor. Did--did you ever speak with her
about--the Courtlandts?"

"Yes, once. Of course she did not care to talk of the matter at first.
It was only when she found that I knew Mr. Courtlandt so well, that she
became at all communicative."

"And did she talk of her affair--of Mr. Courtlandt--the younger one I
mean?"

"My dear Mrs. Forrest! We could hardly expect a young lady to be
communicative on such a topic as that. Of course there were some things
I could not help knowing, and that is why I say we ought not to judge
her harshly now. Her experience of last year was not calculated to make
a girl look upon the world with kindlier eyes, and the contrast between
the life she leads now and that she led under her kinsman's roof is
enough to dishearten any woman."

"I'm sure I do everything I possibly can to make her content and
happy," impetuously exclaimed Mrs. Forrest. "And it's all her own fault
if she isn't. She--she needn't have come at all. Mr. Courtlandt told
her and told Captain Forrest that it should make no difference; but she
is self-willed and obstinate, and nothing would do but she must quit
his roof forever and come to be a burden on her brother, who has quite
enough to stagger under already." ("Hum!" thought Bayard at this
juncture, "how little she realizes the truth of that assertion!") "Mr.
Courtlandt had been devoted to her from her childhood, had lavished
everything on her, had educated her, sent her abroad, provided for her
in every way, and--she rewarded him by taking this silly prejudice
against his son, whom she ought to have had sense enough to know he
expected her to marry."

Bayard's pulse gave a leap, but his fine face made no sign.
Professional imperturbability alone expressed itself. She paused one
instant for breath. Then it occurred to her that perhaps she was
broadly trenching on forbidden ground and revealing that which her
husband had bidden her keep inviolate. Baya