fterward, but Bessie found the
dining-room empty, so she sat down to her work again, and bye and bye
Dixon brought her a message that his mistress was waiting. Mrs. Sefton
was in the room alone; she motioned Bessie to a seat, and began to carve
the chicken before her. No one else made their appearance; but Mrs.
Sefton did not apologize for their absence. She scarcely eat anything
herself, and made no attempt to sustain the conversation. She looked
preoccupied and troubled, and as soon as the meal was over she begged
Bessie to amuse herself, as she had some important business to settle,
and left the room.

Bessie passed a solitary afternoon; but though her book was interesting
her attention often wandered. She was sure something was seriously
wrong, and she felt vaguely unhappy on Edna's account. She could not
forget Mr. Sinclair's face when she had brought him that message. It was
as though he had received a blow that he scarcely knew how to bear.

Dixon brought her some tea, and told her that his mistress and Miss Edna
were having theirs in the dressing-room. Later on, as she went indoors
to prepare for dinner, she encountered Richard; he had just driven up to
the door in his dog-cart, and Brand and Gelert were with him.

"Where is Mr. Sinclair?" she ventured to ask, as he smiled at seeing
her.

"He has gone," he replied. "I have just driven him to the station. Do
you know where my mother is to be found?"

"I have not seen her since luncheon," answered Bessie. "I think she is
with Edna."

"Very likely. I will go and see." And Richard sprung up the staircase
three steps at a time. Bessie thought he looked tired and worried, too;
and to add to the general oppression, a storm seemed gathering, for the
air felt unusually still and sultry.

Edna did not join them at dinner, and the meal was hardly more festive
than the luncheon had been. Mrs. Sefton hardly opened her lips, and
Richard only made a few general remarks.

Bessie expected that her evening would be as solitary as her afternoon,
but, rather to her surprise, Mrs. Sefton beckoned her to sit down beside
her.

"My dear," she said, "you are feeling very uncomfortable, I can see, and
you do not like to ask questions; you think something is the matter, and
you are right. Edna is making us all very unhappy. She has quarrelled
with Neville, and has broken off her engagement with him, and nothing
that Richard or I can say to her will induce her to listen to reaso