. Johanna refrained from interfering; but Maurice was most
persistent: he begged Ephie not to disappoint him, and, when this
failed, said angrily that she had no business to bring him there for
such capricious whims. This treatment cowed Ephie; and she went at once
to put on her hat and jacket.

"He wants to speak to her; and she knows it; and is trying to avoid
it," said Johanna to herself; and her heart beat fast for both of them.
But she was alone with Maurice; she must not lose the chance of
sounding him a little.

"Where do you think of going for a walk?" she asked, and her voice had
an odd tone to her ears.

"Where? Oh, to the ROSENTAL--or the SCHEIBENHOLZ--or along the river.
Anywhere. I don't know."

She coughed. "Have you noticed anything strange about Ephie lately? She
is not herself. I'm afraid she is not well."

He had noticed nothing. But he did not face Johanna; and he held the
photograph he was looking at upside down.

She leaned out of the window to watch them walk along the street. At
this moment, she was fully convinced of the correctness of her mother's
assumption; and by the thought of what might take place within the next
hour, she was much disturbed. During the rest of the afternoon, she
found it impossible to settle to anything; and she wandered from one
room to another, unable even to read. But it struck six, seven, eight
o'clock; it was supper-time; and still Ephie had not come home. Mrs.
Cayhill grew anxious, too, and Johanna strained her eyes, watching the
dark street. At nine and at ten, she was pacing the room, and at
eleven, after a messenger had been sent to Maurice's lodging and had
found no one there she buttoned on her rain-cloak, to accompany one of
the servants to the police-station.

"Why did I let her go?--Oh, why did I let her go!"

IV.

Maurice and Ephie walked along the LESSINGSTRASSE without speaking--it
was a dull, mild day, threatening to rain, as it had rained the whole
of the preceding night. But Ephie was not accustomed to be silent; she
found the stillness disconcerting, and before they had gone far, shot a
furtive look at her companion. She did not intend him to see it; but he
did, and turned to her. He cleared his throat, and seemed about to
speak, then changed his mind. Something in his face, as she observed it
more nearly, made Ephie change colour and give an awkward laugh.

"I asked you before how you liked my hat," she said, with another
attempt