very real astonishment. She had
certainly been told by Lionel that Miss Brabazon and "poor Milly" had
been intimate friends; that this fact was, indeed, the only link between
Miss Brabazon and her host.

The girl now sitting opposite to her flushed deeply, and suddenly
Blanche Farrow realized that there was a good deal of character and
feeling in the open, ingenuous face.

"Yes, that's true. We became great friends"--a note of emotion broke
into the steady, well-modulated voice--"but our friendship was not an
old friendship, Miss Farrow. I only knew Milly--well, I suppose I knew
her about ten weeks in all."

"Ten weeks in all?" This time Blanche Farrow could not keep the surprise
she felt out of her voice. "What an extraordinary mistake for me to have
made! I thought you had been life-long friends."

Helen shook her head. "What happened was this. A friend of mine--I mean
a really old friend--had a bad illness, and I took her down to
Redsands--you may know it, a delightful little village not far from
Walmer. I took a house there, and Mr. and Mrs. Varick had the house next
door. We made friends, I mean Mr. Varick and myself, over the garden
wall, and he asked me if I would mind coming in some day and seeing his
wife. I had a great deal of idle time on my hands, so very soon I spent
even more time with the Varicks than I did with my friend, and she--I
mean poor Milly--became very, very fond of me."

There was a pause. And then the younger woman went on: "And if we knew
each other for such a short time, as one measures time, I on my side
soon got very fond of Milly. Though she was a good deal over
thirty"--again the listener felt a thrill of unreasoning
surprise--"there was something very simple and young about poor Milly."

The speaker stopped, and Blanche, leaning forward, exclaimed: "I am
deeply interested in what you tell me, Miss Brabazon! I have never liked
to say much to Lionel about his wife; but I have always so wondered what
she was really like?"

"She simply adored Mr. Varick," Helen answered eagerly. "She worshipped
him! She was always making plans as to what she and 'Lionel' would do
when she got better. I myself thought it very wrong that all of them,
including Dr. Panton, entered into a kind of conspiracy not to let her
know how ill she was."

"I think that was right," said Blanche Farrow shortly. "Why disturb her
happiness--if indeed she was happy?"

"She was indeed!--very, very happy!" cried Hele