or little wanderer, who, I am well
assured, could not be in better hands than she is at the present
moment. Your protecting care must, I am convinced, atone to her in a
very great measure for all that she has been called upon to undergo."

"So sweet of you to say so!" murmured Lady Bassett. "Words cannot
express my reluctance to explain to her the actual state of affairs,
or my relief that I have been able to avoid doing so with a clear
conscience. Ah! Your cup is empty! Will you let me refill it? No? But
you are not thinking of leaving me yet, surely?"

"Ah, but indeed we must. We are dining with the Boltons to-night, and
going afterwards to the Parkers' dance. You will be there of course?
How delightful! Then we shall soon meet again."

The penetrating voice was accompanied by the sounds of a general move,
and there ensued the usual interchange of compliments at departure,
Lady Bassett protesting that it had been so sweet of her friends to
visit her, and the friends assuring her of the immense pleasure it had
given them to do so. All the things that are never said by people who
are truly intimate with each other were said several times over as
the little party moved away. Their voices receded into the distance,
though they continued for a while to prick through the silence that
fell like a velvet curtain behind them.

Finally they ceased altogether. The summer-house was empty, and an
enterprising monkey slipped down the trunk of a tree and peered in.
But he was a nervous beast, and he had a feeling that the place was
not so wholly devoid of human presence as it seemed. He approached
cautiously, gibbering a little to himself. It looked safe enough, and
there was some dainty confectionery within. But, uneasy instinct still
urging him, he deemed it advisable to peer round the corner of the
summer-house before he yielded to the promptings of a rapacious
appetite.

The next instant his worst fears were realised, and he was scudding up
the nearest tree in a panic.

There, on the ground, face downwards on the pine-needles, lay a human
form. True, it was only a woman lying there. But her silence and her
stillness were eloquent of tragedy even to his monkey-intelligence.
From a safe height he sat and reviled her till he was tired for having
spoilt his sport. Finally, as she made no movement, he forgot
his grievance, and tripped airily away in quest of more thrilling
adventures.

But the woman remained prone upon the g