t it."

"I dare say she has very good reasons," interrupted Hilda. "Don't
talk that way about her, dear Hilda. You are too ill-natured, and I
can't bear to have ill-natured things said about the dear old thing.
You don't know her as I do, or you would never talk so."

"Oh, Zillah--really--you feel my little pleasantries too much. It was
only a thoughtless remark."

"She seems to me," said Zillah, musingly, after a thoughtful silence,
"to be a very--very mysterious person. Though I love her dearly, I
see that there is some mystery about her. Whatever her history may be
she is evidently far above her present position, for when she does
allow herself to talk she has the manner and accent of a refined
lady. Yes, there is a deep mystery about her, which is utterly beyond
my comprehension. I remember once when she had been talking for a
long time about Guy and his wonderful qualities, I suddenly happened
to ask her some trivial question about her life before she came to
Chetwynde; but she looked at me so wild and frightened, that she
really startled me. I was so terrified that I instantly changed the
conversation, and rattled on so as to give her time to recover
herself, and prevent her from discovering my feelings."

"Why, how very romantic!" said Hilda, with a smile. "You seem, from
such circumstances, to have brought yourself to consider our very
prosaic housekeeper as almost a princess in disguise. I, for my part,
look upon her as a very common person, so weak-minded, to say the
least, as to be almost half-witted. As to her accent, that is
nothing. I dare say she has seen better days. I have heard more than
once of ladies in destitute or reduced circumstances who have been
obliged to take to housekeeping. After all, it is not bad. I'm sure
it must be far better than being a governess."

"Well, if I am romantic, you are certainly prosaic enough. At all
events I love Mrs. Hart dearly. But come, Hilda, if you are going to
write you must do so at once, for the letters are to be posted this
afternoon."

Hilda instantly went to the desk and began her task. Zillah, however,
went away. Her chagrin and disappointment were so great that she
could not stay, and she even refused afterward to look at the note
which Hilda showed her. In fact, after that she would never look at
them at all.

Some time after this Zillah and Mrs. Hart were together on one of
those frequent occasions which they made use of for confidential
interv