it could not get away.

She hesitated a moment at the door.

"Come here, my dear," the Duchess said.

Lord Coombe stood by a chair he had evidently placed for her, but she
did not sit down when she reached it. She hesitated again and looked
from one to the other.

"Did you send for me to tell me I must go away?" she said.

"What do you mean, child?" said the Duchess.

"Sit down," Lord Coombe said and spoke in an undertone rapidly. "She
thinks you mean to turn her out of the house as if she were a
kitchen-maid."

Robin sat down with her listless small hands clasped in her lap.

"Nothing matters at all," she said, "but I don't know what to do."

"There is a great deal to do," the Duchess said to her and she did not
speak as if she were angry. Her expression was not an angry one. She
looked as if she were wondering at something and the wondering was
almost tender.

"We know what to do. But it must be done without delay," said Lord
Coombe and his voice reminded her of Mersham Wood.

"Come nearer to me. Come quite close. I want--" the Duchess did not
explain what she wanted but she pointed to a small square ottoman which
would place Robin almost at her knee. Her own early training had been of
the statelier Victorian type and it was not easy for her to deal freely
with outward expression of emotion. And here emotion sprang at her
throat, so to speak, as she watched this childish thing with the
frightened doe's eyes. The girl had been an inmate of her house for
months; she had been kind to her and had become fond of her, but they
had never reached even the borders of intimacy.

And yet emotion had seized upon her and they were in the midst of
strange and powerful drama.

Robin did as she was told. It struck the Duchess that she always did as
she was told and she spoke to her hoping that her voice was not
ungentle.

"Don't look at me as if you were afraid. We are going to take care of
you," she said.

But the doe's eyes were still great with hopeless fearfulness.

"Lord Coombe said--that no one would believe me," Robin faltered. "He
thought I was not married to Donal. But I was--I was. I _wanted_ to be
married to him. I wanted to do everything he wanted me to do. We loved
each other so much. And we were afraid every one would be angry. And so
many were killed every day--and before he was killed--Oh!" with a sharp
little cry, "I am glad--I am glad! Whatever happens to me I am _glad_ I
was married to him befo