ewed the dressing-table. Miss
Darrell was sitting in an easy-chair by the open window. She did not
move or glance as I entered in the full light. She looked pinched and
old and plain. Her eyelids were swollen; her complexion had a yellowish
whiteness; as I stood opposite to her, I could see gray hairs in the
smooth dark head; before many years were over Miss Darrell would look an
old woman. I could not help wondering, as I looked at her, how any one
could have called her handsome.

'Chatty says Leah has gone,' she said, in a voice fretful with misery.
'I told her that that was too good news to be true. Is it true, Miss
Garston?'

'Yes; she has gone.'

'I am glad of it,' with a vixenish sharpness that surprised me. 'I hated
that woman, and yet I was afraid of her too: she got me in her toils, and
then I was helpless. Where has Giles gone, Miss Garston? Chatty said he
went off in a dog-cart with his portmanteau.'

How I wished Chatty would hold her tongue sometimes! but most likely Miss
Darrell had questioned her.

'Mr. Hamilton's business is not our affair,' I returned coldly.

'That means I am not to ask; but all the same you are in his secret,'
with one of her old sneers. 'Will he be back to-night?'

'No, not to-night; to-morrow morning early.'

'That is all I want to know, Miss Garston,' hesitating a little
nervously. 'I have never liked you, but all the same I have not injured
you.'

'Have you not, Miss Darrell?'

'No,' very uneasily; but she did not meet my eyes. 'I defy you to prove
that I have. Still, if I were your enemy, ought you not to heap coals of
fire on my head?'

'Possibly.'

My coolness seemed to frighten her; she lost her sullen self-possession.

'Have you no heart?' she said passionately. 'Will you not hold up a
finger to help me? You have influence with Giles; do not deny it. If you
ask him to keep me here he will not refuse you, and you will make me your
slave for life.'

I heard this proposition with disgust. She could cringe to me whom she
hated. I shook my head, feeling unable to answer her.

'I could help you,' she persisted, fixing her miserable eyes on me. 'Oh,
I know what you want: you cannot hide from me that you are unhappy. I
know where the hindrance lies; one word from me would bring Giles to your
feet. Am I to say that word?'

'No,' I returned indignantly. 'Do you think that I would owe anything
to you? I would rather be unhappy all my life than be under such an
obli