on when Maggie,
alone in the drawing-room, beheld Caroline Smith in the doorway.

"She's got cheek enough for anything," was Maggie's first thought, but
she was not aware of the true magnificence of that young woman's
audacity until she found her hand seized and her cheek kissed.

Caroline, in fact, had greeted her with precisely her old spontaneous
enthusiasm.

"Maggie, darling, where have you been all these days--but WEEKS it is
indeed! You might at least have sent me just a word. Life simply hasn't
been the same without you! You pet! ... and you look tired! Yes, you
do. You've been overworking or something, all because you haven't had
me to look after you!"

Maggie gravely withdrew, and standing away from the shining elegance of
her friend said:

"Caroline--I want to know something before we go any further. What I
want to know is--why did you read that note that I asked you to give to
Martin Warlock?"

Caroline stared in amazement. "My dear, what IS the matter? Are you ill
or something? Oh, you are. I can see you are! You poor darling! Read
your note? What note, dear?"

"The note I gave you a month ago--one evening when you were here."

"A note! A month ago. My dear! As though I could ever remember what I
did a MONTH ago! Why, it's always all I can manage to remember what I
did yesterday. Did you give me a note, dear?"

Maggie began to be angry. "Of course I did. You remember perfectly
well. I gave it to you for Martin Warlock. You let him have it, but
meanwhile you read it, and not only that but told everybody else about
it."

Caroline's expression changed. She was suddenly sulky. Her face was
like that of a spoilt child.

"Well, Maggie Cardinal, if you call that being a friend! To say that I
would ever do such a thing!"

"You know you did!" said Maggie quietly.

"Read your letters? As though I'd want to! Why should I? As though I
hadn't something more interesting to do! No thank you! Of course you
have been getting yourself into a mess. Every one knows that. That's
why I came here to-day--to show you that I was a REAL friend and didn't
mind WHAT people said about you! When they were all talking about you
last night, and saying the most DREADFUL things, I defended you and
said it wasn't really your fault, you couldn't have told what a rotten
sort of a man Martin Warlock was--"

"That's enough," said Maggie. "I don't want your defence, thank you.
You're mean and deceitful and untrue. You never have