lt if her
husband was given to chimerical investments, if her sons were
"unsatisfactory," and her cooks would not stay with her; but it was
natural that these facts should throw into irritating contrast the ease
and harmony of his own domestic life. It made him all the sorrier for
his sister to know that her envy did not penetrate to the essence of
his happiness, but lingered on those external signs of well-being which
counted for so little in the sum total of his advantages. Poor Mrs.
Nimick's life seemed doubly thin and mean when one remembered that,
beneath its shabby surface, there were no compensating riches of the
spirit.

II

IT was the custodian of his own hidden treasure who at this moment
broke in upon his musings. Mrs. Mornway, fresh from her afternoon walk,
entered the room with that air of ease and lightness which seemed to
diffuse a social warmth about her; fine, slender, pliant, so polished
and modeled by an intelligent experience of life that youth seemed
clumsy in her presence. She looked down at her husband and shook her
head.

"You promised to keep the afternoon to yourself, and I hear Grace has
been here."

"Poor Grace--she didn't stay long, and I should have been a brute not
to see her."

He leaned back, filling his gaze to the brim with her charming image,
which obliterated at a stroke the fretful ghost of Mrs. Nimick.

"She came to congratulate you, I suppose?"

"Yes, and to ask me to do something for Ashford."

"Ah--on account of Jack. What does she want for him?"

The Governor laughed. "She said you were in her confidence--that you
were backing her up. She seemed to think your support would ensure her
success."

Mrs. Mornway smiled; her smile, always full of delicate implications,
seemed to caress her husband while it gently mocked his sister.

"Poor Grace! I suppose you undeceived her."

"As to your influence? I told her it was paramount where it ought to
be."

"And where is that?"

"In the choice of carpets and curtains. It seems ours are almost too
good."

"Thanks for the compliment! Too good for what?"

"Our station in life, I suppose. At least they seemed to bother Grace."

"Poor Grace! I've always bothered her." She paused, removing her gloves
reflectively and laying her long fine hands on his shoulders as she
stood behind him. "Then you don't believe in Ashford?" Feeling his
slight start, she drew away her hands and raised them to detach her
veil.

"What makes