Cousin Kate."

CHAPTER XI.

FIVE AND ONE MAKE SIX.

A LONG hush followed these few words of explanation. Gertrude was too
stunned to ask further questions. Mechanically she moved toward her
room, and took off her hat and coat; but all the time she was washing
her hands and smoothing her hair, her ears were strained for sounds from
Georgie's room, which was next her own. There was very little to be
heard,--only a low, continuous murmur of conversation, broken now and
then by a louder word; but all so subdued that Candace, sitting on the
staircase seat, caught nothing. Marian, rushing up after her mother, had
been stopped by the explanation that Georgie was not well, and wanted to
be alone with mamma. After a little natural outburst of impatience, she
too seemed to catch the vague sense of crisis that was in the air, and
settled down quietly, with her head on Candace's knee, to wait.

It was a long waiting. The red sunset sky faded into pallor, and the
stars came out. Gertrude, restless with suspense, joined the other two.
Both she and Candace were too nervous for ordinary talk, and Marian's
presence precluded any mention of the subject with which their thoughts
were full; so the trio sat mostly in silence. Frederic was heard to pass
down the upper entry and announce dinner; but Mrs. Gray only answered by
the word "Presently," and did not open the door. The shadows grew darker
as the dusk deepened, till after a while the gas in the hall was
lighted, when they fled to the remoter corners, and consoled themselves
by casting an added blackness wherever they were permitted to fall,--the
only consolation possible to shadows.

To the anxious watchers on the window bench the time seemed very long;
and in fact it was nearly eight o'clock before Georgie's door was heard
to open, and Mrs. Gray to pass across the hall to her own room. She only
stayed there a few minutes. The girls sprang up to receive her as she
came downstairs, and the older ones looked anxiously in her face. She
was tired and paler than usual, and her eyes showed that she had been
crying; but her smile was brave and clear as she put her arm round
Candace, and gave her a long kiss.

"You must be half starved, my dears," she said. "Georgie has a bad
headache, and I have sent her to bed. She won't come down again
to-night; we will have dinner at once."

They went to dinner, accordingly. Marian held fast to her mother's hand;
but Mrs. Gray kept the oth