I am not as young as I was. I feel as if all this were too
much for me," sighed Miss Mewlstone, as she pressed her companion's
arm. "One needs so much vitality to bear such scenes. I am terrified
for Magdalene, she has so little self-control! and to have him given
back to her from the dead! I thank God! but I am afraid, for all
that." And a few more quiet tears stole over her cheeks.

"Thinking of it only makes it worse," returned Phillis, feverishly.
She, too, dreaded the ordeal before them; but she was young, and not
easily daunted. All the way through the shrubbery she talked on
breathlessly, trying to rally her own courage. It was she who entered
the drawing-room first, for poor Miss Mewlstone had to efface the
signs of her agitation.

Mrs. Cheyne looked up, surprised to see her alone.

"Jeffreys told me you and Miss Mewlstone had gone out together on a
little business. What have you done with poor old Barby?" And, as
Phillis answered as composedly and demurely as she could, Mrs. Cheyne
arched her eyebrows in her old satirical way:

"She is in her room, is she? Never mind answering, if you prefer your
own counsel. Your little mysteries are no business of mine. I should
have thought the world would have come to an end, though, before Barby
had thrown down the third volume of a novel for anything short of a
fire. But you and she know best." And, as Phillis flushed and looked
confused under her scrutiny, she gave a short laugh and turned away.

It was a relief when Miss Mewlstone came trotting into the room with
her cap-strings awry.

"Dear, dear! have we kept you waiting for your tea, Magdalene?" she
exclaimed, in a flurried tone, as she bustled up to the table. "Miss
Challoner had a little business, and she thought I might help her.
Yes; just so! I have brought her in, for she is tired, poor thing! and
I knew she would be welcome."

"It seems to me that you are both tired. You are as hot as though you
had walked for miles, Barby. Oh, you have your secrets too. But it is
not for me to meddle with mysteries." And then she laughed again, and
threw herself back on her couch, with a full understanding of the
discomfort of the two people before her.

Phillis saw directly she was in a hard, cynical mood.

"You shall know our business by and by," she said, very quietly. "Dear
Miss Mewlstone, I am so thirsty, I must ask you for another cup of
tea." But, as Miss Mewlstone took the cup from her, the poor lady's
hand