attitude of a severe student, bending over a table on which lay many
volumes. She would not have been herself had there appeared any neglect
or unbecomingness in her costume, but she wore the least pretentious of
morning gowns, close at throat and wrist, which aided her look of
mental concentration and alertness. She rose with alacrity, and the
visitor, using her utmost keenness in scrutiny of countenance, found
that her own eyes, not Sibyl's, were the first to fall.

'Yes--working as if I had an examination to pass. It's the best thing
in weather such as this--keeps one in health, I believe. You, of
course, have your music, which answers the same purpose. I'm going in
for the Renaissance; always wished to make a thorough study of it. Hugh
is appalled; he never imagined I had so much energy. He says I shall be
writing a book next--and why not?'

'Of course you could,' replied Alma. 'You're clever enough for
anything.'

Her suspicions evaporated in this cosy cloister. She wondered how she
could have conceived such a thought of Sibyl, who, dressed so simply,
had a girlish air, a beauty as of maidenhood. Exhilarated by her
ambitious hopes, she turned in heart to the old friendship, felt her
admiration revive, and spoke it freely.

'I know I'm not stupid,' said Sibyl, leaning back as if a little weary;
'and there's the pity of it, that I've never made more use of my
brains. Of course, those years abroad were lost, though I suppose I got
to know a little more of the world. And since we came back I have had
no peace of mind. Did you guess that? Perhaps your husband knew about
things from Hugh?'

'I was afraid you might be getting rather anxious; but as you never
said anything yourself----'

'I never should have done--I hate talking about money. And you know
that things are looking better?'

Sibyl's confident smile drew one of like meaning from Alma.

'Your husband had good news, I know, when Harvey met him on Saturday.'

'It sounds good,' said Sibyl, 'and I take it for granted it will be as
good as it sounds. If that's complicated, well, so is business, and I
don't profess to understand the details. I can only say that Hugh seems
to be a good deal shrewder and more practical than I thought him. He is
always making friends with what I consider the wrong kind of people;
now at last he has got hold of just the right man, and it very much
puzzles me how he did it. I have known Mr. Redgrave--you've heard it's
Mr. Redg