ing abroad."

"Abroad?"

"Yes, my dear. I heard it in the town, and Madame Zabriska said she had
no doubt it was correct."

"But surely Madame Zabriska doesn't correspond----?"

"I don't know, my dear. I know what she said." She looked at Mrs
Trumbler and went on with emphasis: "It doesn't do to judge foreigners
as we should judge ourselves. If I corresponded with Mr Tristram it
would be one thing; if Madame Zabriska--and to be sure she has nobody to
look after her; that Major is no better than any silly young
man--chooses to do so, it's quite another. All I say is that, so far as
Blent is concerned, there's an end of Mr Tristram. Why, he hasn't got a
penny piece, my dear."

"So I heard," agreed Mrs Trumbler. "I suppose they won't let him
starve."

"Oh, arrangements are made in such cases," nodded Miss S. "But of course
nothing is said about them. For my part I shall never mention either Mr
Tristram or the late Lady Tristram to her present ladyship."

Mrs Trumbler was silent for a while; at last her mouth spoke the
thoughts of her heart.

"I suppose she'll be thinking of marrying soon. But I don't know anybody
in the neighborhood----"

"My dear, she'll have her house in town in the season. The only reason
the late Lady Tristram didn't do so was---- Well, you can see that for
yourself, Mrs Trumbler!"

"What must the Ivers think about it! What an escape! How providential!"

"Let us hope it'll be a lesson to Janie. If I had allowed myself to
think of position or wealth, I should have been married half a dozen
times, Mrs Trumbler."

"I dare say you would," said faithful Mrs Trumbler. But this assent did
not prevent her from remarking to the Vicar that Miss S. sometimes
talked of things which no unmarried woman could be expected really to
understand.

It will be observed that the Imp had been alleviating the pangs of her
own perplexity by a dexterous ministering to the delusions of others.
Not for the world would she have contradicted Miss S.'s assertions; she
would as soon have thought of giving that lady a plain and unvarnished
account of the late Monsieur Zabriska's very ordinary and quite
reputable life and death. No doubt she was right. Both she and the
neighborhood had to wait, and her efforts did something to make the
period more bearable for both of them. The only sufferer was poor Mr
Gainsborough, who was driven from Blentmouth and the curiosity shop by
the sheer terror of encountering ladies from