fly out at me till you hear my reasons--George Dorset."

"Oh----" Lily murmured reproachfully; but Mrs. Fisher pressed on
unrebuffed. "Well, why not? They had a few weeks' honeymoon when they
first got back from Europe, but now things are going badly with them
again. Bertha has been behaving more than ever like a madwoman, and
George's powers of credulity are very nearly exhausted. They're at their
place here, you know, and I spent last Sunday with them. It was a ghastly
party--no one else but poor Neddy Silverton, who looks like a
galley-slave (they used to talk of my making that poor boy unhappy!)--and
after luncheon George carried me off on a long walk, and told me the end
would have to come soon."

Miss Bart made an incredulous gesture. "As far as that goes, the end will
never come--Bertha will always know how to get him back when she wants
him."

Mrs. Fisher continued to observe her tentatively. "Not if he has any one
else to turn to! Yes--that's just what it comes to: the poor creature
can't stand alone. And I remember him such a good fellow, full of life
and enthusiasm." She paused, and went on, dropping her glance from
Lily's: "He wouldn't stay with her ten minutes if he KNEW----"

"Knew----?" Miss Bart repeated.

"What YOU must, for instance--with the opportunities you've had! If he
had positive proof, I mean----"

Lily interrupted her with a deep blush of displeasure. "Please let us
drop the subject, Carry: it's too odious to me." And to divert her
companion's attention she added, with an attempt at lightness: "And your
second candidate? We must not forget him."

Mrs. Fisher echoed her laugh. "I wonder if you'll cry out just as loud if
I say--Sim Rosedale?"

Miss Bart did not cry out: she sat silent, gazing thoughtfully at her
friend. The suggestion, in truth, gave expression to a possibility which,
in the last weeks, had more than once recurred to her; but after a moment
she said carelessly: "Mr. Rosedale wants a wife who can establish him in
the bosom of the Van Osburghs and Trenors."

Mrs. Fisher caught her up eagerly. "And so YOU could--with his money!
Don't you see how beautifully it would work out for you both?"

"I don't see any way of making him see it," Lily returned, with a laugh
intended to dismiss the subject.

But in reality it lingered with her long after Mrs. Fisher had taken
leave. She had seen very little of Rosedale since her annexation by the
Gormers, for he was still steadily