atterbox, that's what _she_ is! She's Lady Violet
Dray's daughter; Lady Violet's quite lovely. How much Jim admires Ivy I
can't say; she took him about with her everywhere; he was always at the
house."

This was too much. Julia felt the friendly earth sway under her, a dry
salty taste was in her mouth, a very hurricane of resentment shook her
heart.

"Oh, Barbara, do you see how he _can_?" she asked, in a stricken voice.

"No, I don't!" Barbara answered, with a concerned glance at Julia's
white face. "Well, as I know him, I can't believe it's the same Jim!"

"I wish you had seen him," Julia said, after an interval of thought.
Barbara said nothing for a few moments, then she confessed suddenly:

"I _did_ see him, Julie."

"You did? Oh, Bab, and you never told me all this time!"

"Well, Mother and Aunt Sanna begged me not to, Ju, and Francis was most
emphatic about it," Barbara pleaded.

"Aunt Sanna--and Francis! But--" Julia's keen eyes read Barbara's face
like an open page. "Then there was more to it!" she declared. "For they
couldn't have minded my knowing just this!"

"I wish I had never mentioned Jim," Barbara said heartily. "It's none of
my business, anyway, only--only--it makes me so unhappy I just can't
bear it! I simply can't bear it!" And to Julia's astonishment, Barbara,
who rarely showed emotion, fumbled for her handkerchief and began to
cry. "I love Jim," pursued Barbara, with that refreshed vehemence that
follows a brief interval of tears. "And you're just as dear to me as my
own sisters--dearer! And I can't _bear_ to have you and that _darling_ baby
here alone, and Jim off in trailing around after a little _fool_ like Ivy
Chancellor! I can't bear it," said Barbara, drying her eyes, which
threatened to overflow again. "It's monstrous! You're--you're wonderful,
of course, Julie, but you can't make me think you're happy! And Jim is
_wretched_. I've known him since I was a baby, and he can't fool _me_! He
can bluff about his work and his club and all that as long as he
pleases! But he can't fool _me_; I know he's utterly miserable."

"And you saw him?" Julia asked.

They were in a little strip of woods just above Richard's cabin now, and
Julia seated herself on the low-hanging branch of an oak. Her face, as
she turned to Barbara, was full of resolute command.

"Sit down, Bab," she said, indicating a thick fallen log a few feet
away. "Tell me all about it."

"Francis would strangle me," Barbara mu