t him. They
sometimes do."

Alice Deringham set her lips and turned her head away from her
companion as one of the voices continued. "Hettie has not heard it
yet, and Tom did not seem sure about it when he told me. In fact,
Forel brought the man over to see us the night before, but it is quite
evident now the girl had been living there. Yes, Tom heard he had
rooms behind his office."

Miss Deringham had recovered her outward serenity, and the flush had
faded from her face, leaving it very colourless as she turned to her
companion.

"You heard that woman?" she said.

The lady beside her nodded, though there was a little pink tinge in her
cheeks. "I am sorry that you did, my dear."

Alice Deringham stood up, and looked down at her with a sparkle in her
eyes. "I know," she said, "that it cannot be true."

"We must hope so," said her companion, who appeared distinctly
uncomfortable. "Still, the story is being told all over the city, and
several of the houses Forel took the man to are closed against him
already."

Alice Deringham seemed to shiver a little. "But--it is impossible."

Her companion shook her bead. "My husband is a member of the company
which employed Miss Townshead, and as the man's business affairs were
antagonistic to theirs she was dismissed immediately."

Alice Deringham found it very difficult to conceal the effect of this
last blow, and was turning away when two women rose from a divan behind
the screen. "The tea is cold. Shall I ask for some more for you?"
said one of them. "Pleased to see you again, Miss Deringham."

She got no further, for the girl, who looked her full in the face,
passed on, and the other woman flushed a trifle.

"I'm afraid she must have heard you," said somebody. "Miss Deringham
is, I believe, a connection of Alton's, and Hettie Forel hinted there
was something more than that between them. It would be an especially
suitable match because of some property in the old country."

The lady she spoke to smiled somewhat sourly. "Then one would be a
trifle sorry for the rancher," she said.

It cost Miss Deringham a good deal to talk to her hostess until she
could depart without attracting attention, and she walked back to
Forel's house with a blaze in her eyes. As yet she could not think
connectedly, for the astonishment had left no room for more than vague
sensations of disgust and anger and a horrible rankling of wounded
pride. Mrs. Forel as it happened w