rston. My cousin Giles informed us how much engaged you were. We have
been so interested in what Mr. Cunliffe told us about it. It is such a
romantic scheme, and, as I am a very romantic person, you may be sure of
my sympathy. Gladys, dear, is this not a charming room? Positively you
have so altered and beautified it that I can hardly believe it is the
same room. I told a friend of ours, Mrs. Saunders, that it would never
suit her, as it was such a shabby little place.'

'It is very nice,' returned Miss Hamilton quietly. 'I hope,' fixing her
large, beautiful eyes on me, 'that you are comfortable here? We thought
perhaps you might be a little dull.'

'I have no time to be dull,' I returned, smiling, but Miss Darrell
interrupted me.

'No, of course not; busy people are never dull. I told you so, Gladys, as
we walked up the road. Depend upon it, I said, Miss Garston will hardly
have a minute to give to our idle chatter. She will be wanting to get to
her sick people, and wish us at Hanover. Still, as my cousin Giles said,
we must do the right thing and call, though I am sure you are not a
conventional person; neither am I. Oh, we are quite kindred souls here.'

I tried to receive this speech in good part, but I certainly protested
inwardly against the notion that Miss Darrell and I would ever be kindred
souls. I felt an instinctive repugnance to her voice; its want of tone
jarred on me; and all the time she talked, her hard, bright eyes seemed
to dart restlessly from Miss Hamilton to me. I felt sure that nothing
could escape their scrutiny; but now and then, when one looked at her in
return, she seemed to veil them most curiously under the long curling
lashes.

She was rather an elegant-looking woman, but her face was decidedly
plain. She had thin lips and rather a square jaw, and her sallow
complexion lacked colour. One could not guess her age exactly, but she
might have been three-or four-and-thirty. I heard her spoken of
afterwards as a very interesting-looking person; certainly her figure
was fine, and she knew how to dress herself,--a very useful art when
women have no claim to beauty.

Miss Darrell's voluble tongue seemed to touch on every subject. Miss
Hamilton sat perfectly silent, and I had not a chance of addressing her.
Once, when I looked at her, I could see her eyes were fixed on my
darling's picture. She was gazing at it with an air of absorbed
melancholy: her lips were firmly closed, and her hands lay f