ty!" she exclaimed piteously, "to think that our dear boy
should be deceiving us like this! But that woman has deluded him."

"The woman beguiled me and I did eat," murmured Malcolm. Then Elizabeth
looked at him rather sharply, as though she suspected a double meaning.
But as he proceeded with his story, and she heard of Leah's noble act
of self-sacrifice, her mood changed and her eyes filled with tears.
Malcolm fancied that he heard her say softly under her breath, "She
loved much, because much has been forgiven her."

But the climax of their wonder seemed reached when Malcolm told them
that Leah was at the Manor House. Dinah seemed as though she could not
believe her ears, and again Elizabeth looked at him curiously.

"Our dear Mrs. Godfrey!" she ejaculated. "I wonder what made you go to
her. I thought," with a little laugh, "only a woman would have done
that."

"Do you consider men so dense?" was his answer. "Mrs. Godfrey is the
best friend I have in the world, and she has never disappointed me
once. She is not only wise and almost masculine in her breadth of view,
but she is also the most womanly of women."

"How well you have grasped her!" returned Elizabeth in an approving
voice. "Yes, you are right, she will be a true friend to that poor Miss
Jacobi. It was magnificent strategy. I do not believe any one else
would have thought of it." But Malcolm only flushed at this eulogium.

"I promised you that I would do my best," he said in a constrained
voice; but Elizabeth was too elated and excited by the good news to
measure her words.

"Oh, but your best is so much better than other people's best," she
said gaily. "Die, dear, why do you not make some pretty speeches to Mr.
Herrick when he has achieved all this?" Then Dinah smiled and held out
her hand.

"What should we have done without you!" was all she said, but Malcolm
felt amply rewarded for his trouble.

They talked a little more about Leah Jacobi, and then Elizabeth said
suddenly--

"I have an idea. I will go to the Manor House and talk to Mrs.
Godfrey--it is our affair, and we must not shunt our responsibilities
on other people's shoulders--and then I can judge of this poor Leah."
And though Dinah was evidently startled by this bold suggestion, she
did not attempt to gainsay it.

"Shall you go to-morrow?" she asked. "Perhaps I could go too." But
Elizabeth promptly negatived this.

"You will do nothing of the kind," she returned decidedly; "I shall