mised gaiety within the house and she bent her ear
expectantly for music. There ought to have been music, sweet and
tinkling, and people dancing delicately, but the lights were not
darkened by moving figures, and the only sound was Helen's voice
anxiously calling her in.

Miriam was indifferent to the anxiety, and she did not want to rise: she
was comfortable on the soft, damp earth, and the night had been so long
that the morning must be near. If she stayed there, she would be spared
the trouble of going to bed and getting up again, and when Helen called
once more, she heard the voice as from a great way off, and answered
sleepily, "Yes, I'm coming," but the next minute she was annoyed to find
Helen standing over her.

"Why didn't you come in? It's Notya. She has put lights in every room.
She was afraid of the dark, she says. She couldn't find us. She has been
talking--oh, talking. Come and let her see you."

"I wish things wouldn't go round and round."

"You must go to bed, but first you must let her see you. She thinks you
are not coming back."

"And I nearly didn't. I won't see her if she's ill."

"You must. She isn't--green, or anything."

"I'm ill, too. I'm giddy."

"Oh, can't you do this to help me? Haven't I helped you?"

"Oh, yes, you have! I'll come, but help me up." Her laughter bubbled
out. "I'm afraid you're having rather a busy night!"

Mildred Caniper was sitting on the edge of the bed. Swinging a foot, and
with her curly hair hanging to her shoulders, she had a very youthful
look.

"So she has come back," she said. Her voice was small and secret. "I
thought she wouldn't. She is like Edith. Edith went. And I was glad.
Yes, for a little while." Her tones grew mournful and she looked at the
floor. "But it hasn't been a happy thing for me. No. I have been very
unhappy."

Miriam stood at the door and, holding on to it, she stared with fear and
fascination at the strange woman on the bed, and from her throat there
came a tiny sound, like the beating of a little animal's heart. "Oh, oh,
oh! Oh, oh, oh!"

Helen was murmuring to her stepmother: "Yes, dear, yes. Get into bed.
It's late, and we are all going to bed. You are getting cold, you know.
Let me lift your feet up. There! That's better."

"Yes." Mildred lay passive. She seemed to think and, in the pause,
Miriam's ejaculations changed to sighs that ceased as Mildred said in
the sharp tones they welcomed now, "What are you both doing here? G