aded lamp beside Mrs. Cheyne, it was full of dim corners.
Nevertheless, Phillis piloted herself without hesitation to the
illuminated circle.

"This is good of you, Miss Challoner, to take me at my word. But where
is your sister? I wanted to look at her again, for it is long since I
have seen any one so pretty. Miss Mewlstone, this is the good
Samaritan who bound up my foot so cleverly."

"Ah, just so," returned Miss Mewlstone. And a soft, plump hand touched
Phillis's, and then she went on picking up stitches and taking no
further notice.

"Nan could not come," observed Phillis. "She had to run down to Beach
House to report progress to mother. We hope she is coming home
to-morrow. But, as you were so kind as to write, I thought I would
just call and inquire about your foot. And then it would be easier to
explain things than to write about it."

"Oh! so your mother is coming home!" returned Mrs. Cheyne, with so
much interest in her voice that Miss Mewlstone left off counting to
look at her. ("Just so, just so," Phillis heard her mutter.) "You must
have worked hard to get ready for her so soon. When my foot will allow
me to cross a room without hobbling, I will do myself the pleasure of
calling on her. But that will be neither this week nor the next, I am
afraid. But I shall see a good deal of you and your sister before
then," she concluded, with the graciousness of one who knows she is
conferring an unusual honor.

"I do not know," faltered Phillis. And then she sat upright, and
looked her hostess full in the face. "That will be for you to decide
when you hear what I have to say. But I fear"--with a very poor
attempt at a smile--"that we shall see very little of each other in
the future."

"Oh, there is a mystery, is there?" returned Mrs. Cheyne, with a
little scorn in her manner; and her mouth took one of the downward
curves that Mr. Drummond so thoroughly disliked. She had taken an odd
fancy to these girls, especially to Phillis, and had thought about
them a good deal during a sleepless, uneasy night. Their simplicity,
their straightforward unconsciousness, had attracted her in spite of
her cynicism. But at the first suspicion of mystery she withdrew into
herself rather haughtily. "Do speak out, I beg, Miss Challoner; for if
there be one thing that makes me impatient, it is to have anything
implied."

"I am quite of your opinion," replied Phillis, with equal haughtiness,
only it sat more strangely on her girl