e going to talk about.
You are an old friend of a man we are indebted to, and, just because I
believe there's no meanness in Geoffrey Thurston, you are very welcome
to the best that we can do for you. I will ask him over to meet you."

Millicent flushed. Under the circumstances she was touched by the
speaker's sincerity, and grateful for the way she expressed herself.
Perhaps it was this which prompted her to an almost involuntary
outpouring of confidence.

"I am the woman who should have married him," she said simply.

Mrs. Savine merely nodded, and dipped her needle somewhat blindly into
the embroidery on her knee before she replied: "I had guessed it
already. You missed a very good husband, my dear. I don't want to
force your confidence, but I imagine that you have some distress to
bear, and I might help you. I have seen a good deal of trouble in my
time."

Millicent was unstable by nature. She was also excited and feverish.
Afterwards she wondered why a kindly word from a woman she knew so
slightly should excite in her such a desire for advice and sympathy.
In spite of her occasional brusqueries, it was hard for anyone to say
no to Mrs. Savine. So Millicent answered, with a sigh:

"I know it now when it is too late--no one knows it better. You do
well to believe in Geoffrey Thurston."

Mrs. Savine looked at her very keenly, then nodded. "I believe in you,
too. There! I guess you can trust me."

Millicent bent her head, and her eyes were misty. A raw wound, which
the frost had irritated, marred the delicate curve of her upper lip.
It became painfully visible.

"It is only fit that I should tell you, since I am your guest," she
said, touching the scar with one finger. "That is the mark of my
husband's hand, and I am leaving him forever because I would not
connive at Geoffrey's ruin. Geoffrey is acting as trustee for my
property, and I cannot leave for England without consulting him. So
much is perhaps due to you, and--because of your kindness I should not
like you to think too ill of me--I will tell you the rest. To begin
with, Geoffrey has never shown me anything but kindness."

Mrs. Savine gently patted the speaker's arm, and Millicent related what
had led up to her journey, or part of it. When she had finished, the
elder lady commented:

"You are doing a risky thing; but I can't quite blame you, and if I
could, I would not do it now. You will stay right here until Geoffrey
has fixed u