There may be satisfaction for you to know
it. I am, then, everything that you have implied. More--more than you
have said. I am false. I do flatter people--cajole them--deceive. I do
it for my own interest. Now are you satisfied? Could anything be
worse? I confess, even, that I have deserved the way you have treated
me."

"Believe me----" he began, hastily.

But she had swept from him, and, amid the group of retreating women,
he found no chance to finish the sentence.

III.

Miriam Whiting said "good-night" very early. A greater accuracy might
demand the statement that the time at which she had "gone upstairs"
was relatively not late--for the hours of the house were expansive,
and not only had morning a way of extending into afternoon, but
midnight into morning. As a general thing, she had only disappeared
with her hostess, but on this particular evening she pleaded
weariness--sleepiness--had even hinted at a headache, which no one had
ever known her to have. Thereupon she departed, followed by the
reproaches of the rest. Once in her room, she hurried her maid, and,
finally, abruptly dismissed her. When she was alone, she went to the
window and threw wide both the shutters. She leaned with her elbows on
the sill, gazing out at the moonlit country.

Perfectly round, with a burnished sky about it, such as may sometimes
be seen when the circle is absolutely full, the white disk hung in the
heavens. Below, about the quiet edges of the fountain, the light lay
with silken sheen. Only, where the drops fell tremulously, the water
was broken into glittering sparks. All was very still. Far off a dog
barked fitfully. That was the one sound which broke the silence, with
the exception of the occasional distant laughter of some men on the
terrace at the end of the spreading wing. With her fingers buried in
her thick hair, carefully gathered for the night, she looked straight
before her, although she was wholly unconscious of the scene.

A light knock at the door was repeated twice before she heard it and
spoke.

"It's I," the voice said, insistently. "May I come in?"

"Of course," Miriam answered, without moving.

The door opened quickly, and a small figure darted into the room.

"There was some one coming," said Mrs. Brough, as she glanced down at
the voluminous silken folds in which her little body was lost. "I am
not in a condition to be seen--generally."

She came forward slowly.

"My room is near yours. I saw