rariety of fate.

"Just my luck!" she said crossly. "Now, of all times, when Dane has
this tiresome ankle, and needs me to cheer him up. A man hates sitting
still, and of course you have a hundred engagements. If he'd been with
us, I could have amused him all day long."

"It wouldn't have been very amusing for him, if you had been in bed with
an attack of bronchitis! It _is_ hard luck, Teresa. But you must nurse
yourself, and get better quickly. Captain Peignton will soon be able to
come to see you. Till then, I'll do everything I can."

"Oh, I know you will. Of course. You are most awfully kind. But
_still_!" cried Teresa eloquently.

Cassandra went back to her boudoir, and stood face to face with her own
thoughts. What a complex thing was human nature; how many separate
selves went up to make a whole! One part of her was sorry, quite
honestly and unfeignedly sorry for Teresa, in that she was debarred from
ministering to her lover during his confinement; another part rejoiced
with a ruthless joy. For three or four days out of a lifetime, fate had
decreed that Dane should be left in her own charge, dependent upon her
for society. She clutched at her chance with greedy hands.

"They are all I shall have. I shall have to live on them all my life,"
Cassandra said in her heart. Then her lips trembled, and she spoke
aloud in a low, trembling voice. "I suppose I love him. I suppose
that's what it means.--I _know_ I love him! Oh, Teresa, it won't hurt
you to spare him to me for just four days!"

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

OUT OF THE CAGE.

Teresa's attack of bronchitis kept her on the sick list for several
weeks, and it was not until she was able to go about the house as usual,
that Mary found an opportunity for escape.

Every morning when Mrs Mallison was fresh and vigorous after a night of
uninterrupted sleep, she informed the wearied night nurse that no money
in the world could be so sweet as the privilege of ministering to a dear
one in the hour of suffering: every evening when she was fatigued by the
day's fussings to and fro, she prophesied her own imminent decease, and
put it to Mary, as a Christian woman, how she would feel if she took her
hand from the yoke! Out of her husband's hearing also she sang constant
laments on the price of patent foods and fresh eggs, and gave
instructions that on the first moment of sickening, she herself was to
be despatched to the district hospital. Teresa, toss