o point a finger trembling with passion.

"Her price!" she shrilled. "Ask her that. It is all these creatures
ever understand!"

Miss Diana slipped an arm beneath her elbow and firmly conducted her
forth. Ruth, hearing the door shut, supposed that both women had
withdrawn. She sank into a chair, and was stretching out her arms over
the table to bury her face in them and sob, when the voice of the
younger said quietly behind her shoulder,--

"It is always hard, after mamma's tantrums, to bring the talk back to a
decent level. Nevertheless, shall we try?"

Ruth had drawn herself up again, rallying the spirit in her. It was
weary, bruised; but its hour of default was not yet. Her voice dragged,
but just perceptibly, as she answered Miss Vyell, who nodded, noting her
courage and wondering a little,--

"I am sorry."

"Sorry?"

"Yes; it was partly my fault--very largely my fault. But your mother
angered me from the first by assuming--what she had no right to assume.
It was horrible."

Diana Vyell seated herself, eyed her steadily for a moment, and nodded
again. "Mamma can be _raide_, there's no denying. She was wrong, of
course; that's understood. . . . Still, on the whole you have done
pretty well, and had your revenge."

Ruth's eyes widened, for this was beyond her.

Diana explained. "You have let us make the most impossible fools of
ourselves. It may have been more by luck than by good management, as
they say; but there it is. Now don't say that revenge isn't sweet.
. . . I've done you what justice I can; but if you pose as an angel from
heaven, it's asking too much." While Ruth considered this, she added,
"I don't know if you can put yourself in mamma's place for a moment; but
if you can, the hoax is complete enough, you'll admit."

"I had rather put myself in yours."

Their eyes met, and Diana's cheek reddened slightly. "You are an
extraordinary girl," she said, "and there seems no way but to be honest
with you. Unfortunately, it's not so easy, even with the best will in
the world. Can you understand _that?_"

"If you love him--"

"Oh, for pity's sake spare me!" Diana bounced up and stepped to the
window. The red on her cheek had deepened, and she averted it to stare
out at the poultry in the yard. "You are unconscionable," she said
after a while, with a vexed laugh. "I have known my cousin Oliver since
we were children together. Really, you know, you're almost as brutal as
mamma.