good. _Hope_! I
wonder--I wonder if--at last--"

He raised his arm from the mantelpiece and walked forward to join the
group by the table, while Hope shrank still farther into the shadow.
Her cheeks flushed, her heart beat with an unaccustomed quickening. "I
believe," she said to herself--"I believe he understood!"

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

NEW FRIENDSHIPS.

Three days passed, and Hope thoroughly enjoyed the novel experience of
life in a crowded and constantly changing household. Certain of the
guests were fixtures, among whom were numbered Truda Bennett, Mr
Merrilies, and the fair and facetious Reggie Blake; but for the rest,
every day saw fresh arrivals, fresh departures, all involving a certain
amount of extra work to the busy servants. Hope could not help
realising the truth of Madge's shrewd surmise that she had been asked to
make herself of use, for her aunt did not foil to claim her services a
dozen times a day. She arranged the flowers, decorated the
dinner-table, answered business letters, made up and unpacked parcels,
and, in short, discharged all the little duties which ordinarily fall
upon the daughter of the house.

The work kept her more or less separate from the rest of the party, and
there were occasions when she listened longingly to the bursts of
laughter which sounded from the hall or from the billiard-room when on a
wet day the resourceful Truda organised a billiard tournament for the
entertainment of the men. But for the most part she was delighted to be
of use, to watch her aunt's hard manner gradually soften into something
closely approaching affection, and to receive from time to time one of
her cousin's rare caresses. Avice never offered to take any part in the
work, but the listless eyes noted more than was imagined; and looking
back over the day's history, Hope often realised that it was to a quiet
word or suggestion from Avice's lips that she owed what little pleasure
came her way.

With Mr Merrilies she had few opportunities of conversation, for he was
out shooting all day long; and in the evening Truda claimed him for her
own, and allowed him no chance of leaving her side. She had dozens of
what she called "parlour tricks," and every evening produced some new
device to attract attention. Now it was a ring slung on a piece of
string, which must be separated without undoing the knot; now a feat of
balancing; now some marvellous thought-reading, carefully prearranged
with a conf