satin-tipped foot emerged restlessly
from the edge of her lace gown, her face lost the bloom of animation
which talk and laughter always produced in it, and she looked so pale
and weary that Justine needed no better pretext for drawing her into the
room.

It was not in Bessy to resist a soothing touch in her moments of nervous
reaction. She sank into the chair by the fire and let her head rest
wearily against the cushion which Justine slipped behind it.

Justine dropped into the low seat beside her, and laid a hand on hers.
"You don't look as well as when I went away, Bessy. Are you sure you've
done wisely in beginning your house-parties so soon?"

It always alarmed Bessy to be told that she was not looking her best,
and she sat upright, a wave of pink rising under her sensitive skin.

"I am quite well, on the contrary; but I was dying of inanition in this
big empty house, and I suppose I haven't got the boredom out of my
system yet!"

Justine recognized the echo of Mrs. Carbury's manner.

"Even if you _were_ bored," she rejoined, "the inanition was probably
good for you. What does Dr. Wyant say to your breaking away from his
regime?" She named Wyant purposely, knowing that Bessy had that respect
for the medical verdict which is the last trace of reverence for
authority in the mind of the modern woman. But Mrs. Amherst laughed with
gentle malice.

"Oh, I haven't seen Dr. Wyant lately. His interest in me died out the
day you left."

Justine forced a laugh to hide her annoyance. She had not yet recovered
from the shrinking disgust of her last scene with Wyant.

"Don't be a goose, Bessy. If he hasn't come, it must be because you've
told him not to--because you're afraid of letting him see that you're
disobeying him."

Bessy laughed again. "My dear, I'm afraid of nothing--nothing! Not even
of your big eyes when they glare at me like coals. I suppose you must
have looked at poor Wyant like that to frighten him away! And yet the
last time we talked of him you seemed to like him--you even hinted that
it was because of him that Westy had no chance."

Justine uttered an impatient exclamation. "If neither of them existed it
wouldn't affect the other's chances in the least. Their only merit is
that they both enhance the charms of celibacy!"

Bessy's smile dropped, and she turned a grave glance on her friend. "Ah,
most men do that--you're so clever to have found it out!"

It was Justine's turn to smile. "Oh, but I h