grey eyes. Rose's kind hand had unwittingly slammed the
flood-gates in the moment they had opened; and Edmund, seeing that
look, and feeling the air electric, suddenly reverted to a belief in
Molly's sense of guilt towards Rose.

For the fraction of a second Rose looked helplessly at Edmund, and then
held out a little bunch of violets to Molly.

"Won't you have these? There; they suit so well with your gown."

With a quick and very gentle touch she put the violets into Molly's
belt, and smiled at her with the sunshine that was all about them.

Molly looked a little dazed, and the "Thank you" of her clear low voice
was mechanical.

"I was just coming for a few minutes' walk in the wood."

Rose's voice was very rich in inflection, and now it sounded like a
caress.

"But I wonder if it is late? I think I have forgotten the time, it is
all so beautiful."

She laid her hand for a moment on Molly's arm.

"It is very late," said Edmund with decision, but without consulting his
watch on the point.

They all moved quickly, and while making their way back to the Castle
Rose and Edmund talked of Lord and Lady Groombridge, and Molly walked
silently beside them.

CHAPTER X

THE PET VICE

"May I come in?"

At the same moment the door was half opened, and Lady Groombridge, in a
heavy, dark-coloured gown, made her way in, with the swish of a long,
silk train. She half opened the door with an air of mystery, and she
closed it softly while she held her flat silver candlestick in her hand
as if she wished she could conceal it, yet the oil lamps were still
burning in the gallery behind her. The appearance of the wish for
concealment was merely the unconscious expression of her mental
condition at the moment.

Two women looked up in surprise as she made this unconsciously dramatic
entrance into her guest's bedroom. Lady Rose was sitting in front of the
uncurtained window in a loose, white dressing-gown, lifting a mass of
her golden hair with her hair brush. She had been talking eagerly, but
vaguely, before her hostess came in, in order to conceal the fact that
she wished intensely to be allowed to go to bed.

Lady Rose made many such minor sacrifices on the altar of charity, and
she was sorry for the tall, thin, mysterious girl who, at first almost
impossibly stiff and cold, had volunteered a visit to her room to-night.
It was only a very few who were ever asked to come into Rose's room,
and she had hastily co