doing all this time!" Cleopatra exclaimed at
last.

"I'll go and see, I think," said Mrs. Delarayne, lifting her dress just
slightly in front, and making towards the door.

"No, Edith," her daughter exclaimed, rising quickly. "I'll go. I cannot
have you making yourself hot by climbing all those stairs. Please let me
go!"

Mrs. Delarayne's wiry arm braced itself as her hand clasped the handle
of the door. "I think I'd better go," she replied.

For the first time Cleopatra began to suspect that something had
happened. She knew the relations existing between Leonetta and her
mother, but as the latter had always been so surprisingly patient and
long-suffering, she was very far from suspecting what had actually
occurred.

Their hesitation was cut short for them by the arrival of the first
guest, Sir Joseph Bullion, who, a moment later, was followed by Denis
Malster, Guy Tyrrell, Agatha Fearwell and her brother Stephen (friends
of Cleopatra's), and Miss Mallowcoid.

The last to enter the drawing-room was Leonetta. She had evidently
dreaded encountering her mother and sister alone, and she had purposely
waited till she heard the guests arrive before coming down. Although to
those who knew her there were certain unusual signs of demurity in her
expression and demeanour in the early part of the evening, she presented
a dramatically beautiful appearance, and the sober reserve of her mood
if anything enhanced this effect, by lending it the additional charm of
mystery and inscrutableness.

Cleopatra was a little puzzled. Never had she expected that Leo would
behave in this way, particularly in the presence of young men, and her
feeling towards her sister underwent a momentary revulsion. She noticed
that Denis scarcely took his eyes off her sister; but she also observed
that Leo hardly ever responded, and simply talked quietly and demurely
on to Guy Tyrrell or Stephen Fearwell. She could not understand, nor did
her deepest wishes allow her to suspect, that her sister's delightfully
sober mood was only a transient one.

During the dinner a slight diversion was created by Leonetta's
addressing her parent as "Mother." But the poor child was so confused
when she realised what she had done, and particularly when she thought
of why she had done it, that everybody except Miss Mallowcoid
endeavoured to ease the situation by being tremendously voluble.

After what had occurred between herself and her mother, the cold and
distant