ilent, but gazing upon this new abode with wide-open eyes.

Why was not Martin here? He had known me in Sark, in Tardif's cottage,
and he would understand how strange and how unlike home all this was to
me.

A trim maid was summoned to show us to our rooms, and she eyed us with
silent criticism. She conducted us to a large and lofty apartment,
daintily and luxuriously fitted up, with a hundred knick-knacks about
it, of which I could not even guess the use. A smaller room communicated
with it which had been evidently furnished for Minima. The child
squeezed my hand tightly as we gazed into it. I felt as if we were
gypsies, suddenly caught, and caged in a splendid captivity.

"Isn't it awful?" asked Minima, in a whisper; "it frightens me."

It almost frightened me too. I was disconcerted also by my own
reflection in the long mirror before me. A rustic, homely peasant-girl,
with a brown face and rough hands, looked back at me from the shining
surface, wearing a half-Norman dress, for I had not had time to buy more
than a bonnet and shawl as we passed through Falaise. What would Miss
Carey think of me? How should I look in Dr. John's fastidious eyes?
Would not Martin be disappointed and shocked when he saw me again?

I could not make any change in my costume, and the maid carried off
Minima to do what she could with her. There came a gentle knock at my
door, and Miss Carey entered. Here was the fitting personage to dwell in
a house like this. A delicate gray-silk dress, a dainty lace cap, a
perfect self-possession, a dignified presence. My heart sank low. But
she kissed me affectionately, and smiled as I looked anxiously into her
face.

"My dear," she said, "I hope you will like your room. John and Martin
have ransacked London for pretty things for it. See, there is a
painting of Tardifs cottage in Sark. Julia has painted it for you. And
here is a portrait of my dear friend, Martin's mother; he hung it there
himself only this morning. I hope you will soon feel quite at home with
us, Olivia."

Before I could answer, a gong sounded through the house, with a sudden
clang that startled me.

We went down to the drawing-room, where Dr. Senior gave me his arm, and
led me ceremoniously to dinner. At this very hour my dear Monsieur
Laurentie and mademoiselle were taking their simple supper at the little
round table, white as wood could be made by scrubbing, but with no cloth
upon it. My chair and Minima's would be standing