ked with painful calculation. Mrs. Enderby, too, spent much
time away from the house, and Maud knew nothing of her engagements. One
thing, however, Maud could not help noticing, and that was that her
mother was clearly very extravagant in her mode of living. New and
costly dresses were constantly being purchased, as well as articles of
luxury for the house. Mrs. Enderby had of late provided herself with a
_femme de chambre_, a young woman who arrayed herself with magnificence
in her mistresses castoff dresses, and whose appearance and demeanour
had something the reverse of domestic. Maud almost feared her. Then
there was a hired brougham constantly in use. Whenever Mrs. Enderby
spent an evening at home, company was sure to be entertained; noisy and
showy people filled the drawing-room, and remained till late hours.
Maud did not even see their faces, but the voices of one or two men and
women became only too familiar to her; even in the retirement of her
room she could not avoid hearing these voices, and they made her
shudder. Especially she was conscious of Mr. Rudge's presence; she knew
his very step on the stairs, and waited in feverish apprehension for
the first notes of an accompaniment on the piano, which warned her that
he was going to sing. He had a good voice, and it was often in request.
Sometimes the inexplicable dread of his singing was more than she could
bear; she would hurry on her walking-attire, and, stealing like a
shadow down the stairs, would seek refuge in pacing about the streets
of the neighbourhood, heedless of weather or the hour.

Mrs. Enderby never came down to breakfast. One morning, when Paul
happened to be at home, he and Maud had finished that meal in silence,
and Maud was rising to leave the room, when her father checked her. He
leaned over the table towards her, and spoke in an anxious undertone.

"Have you noticed anything a little--a little strange in your mother
lately, Maud? Anything in her way of speaking, I mean--her general
manner?"

The girl met his look, and shook her head. The approach to such a
conversation affected her as with a shock; she could not speak.

"She has very bad nights, you know," Paul went on, still in a tone just
above a whisper, "and of late she has been taking chloral. It's against
my wish, but the relief makes it an irresistible temptation. I fear--I
am afraid it is having some deleterious effect upon her; she seemed to
be a little--just a little delirious