haggardness,
but with a light upon her that struck Anna with surprise. Or was it,
perhaps, that she was looking at the girl with new eyes: seeing her, for
the first time, not as Effie's governess, not as Owen's bride, but as
the embodiment of that unknown peril lurking in the background of every
woman's thoughts about her lover? Anna, at any rate, with a sudden sense
of estrangement, noted in her graces and snares never before perceived.
It was only the flash of a primitive instinct, but it lasted long enough
to make her ashamed of the darknesses it lit up in her heart...

She signed to Sophy to sit down on the sofa beside her. "I asked you to
come up to me because I wanted to say good-bye quietly," she explained,
feeling her lips tremble, but trying to speak in a tone of friendly
naturalness.

The girl's only answer was a faint smile of acquiescence, and Anna,
disconcerted by her silence, went on: "You've decided, then, not to
break your engagement?"

Sophy Viner raised her head with a look of surprise. Evidently the
question, thus abruptly put, must have sounded strangely on the lips
of so ardent a partisan as Mrs. Leath! "I thought that was what you
wished," she said.

"What I wished?" Anna's heart shook against her side. "I wish,
of course, whatever seems best for Owen...It's natural, you must
understand, that that consideration should come first with me..."

Sophy was looking at her steadily. "I supposed it was the only one that
counted with you."

The curtness of retort roused Anna's latent antagonism. "It is," she
said, in a hard voice that startled her as she heard it. Had she ever
spoken so to any one before? She felt frightened, as though her
very nature had changed without her knowing it...Feeling the girl's
astonished gaze still on her, she continued: "The suddenness of the
change has naturally surprised me. When I left you it was understood
that you were to reserve your decision----"

"Yes."

"And now----?" Anna waited for a reply that did not come. She did
not understand the girl's attitude, the edge of irony in her short
syllables, the plainly premeditated determination to lay the burden
of proof on her interlocutor. Anna felt the sudden need to lift their
intercourse above this mean level of defiance and distrust. She looked
appealingly at Sophy.

"Isn't it best that we should speak quite frankly? It's this change on
your part that perplexes me. You can hardly be surprised at that. It's
tru