ams?' Hamilton murmured gently.

'I don't believe in all dreams, boy; I do believe in that dream.'

'Hush!' said Hamilton, holding up his hand.

Some faint, vague sounds were heard in the corridor. The Dictator and
Hamilton remained absolutely motionless and silent.

The Duchess had disappeared into her room for a while, and called
together her maids and passed them in review. It was a whim of the
good-hearted young Duchess to go round to country-houses carrying three
maids along with her. She had one maid as her personal and bodily
attendant, a second to dress her hair, and a third maid to look after
her packing and her dresses. She had honestly got under the impression
of late years that a woman could not be well looked after who had not
three maids to go about with her and see to her wants. When first she
settled down at Seagate Hall with her three attendant Graces, Helena was
almost inclined to resent such an invasion as an insult. It would not
have mattered, the girl said to her father, if it were at King's
Langley, where were rooms enough for a squadron of maids; but here, at
Seagate Hall, the accommodation of which was limited, what an
extraordinary thing to do! Who ever heard of a woman going about with
three maids? Sir Rupert, however, would not have a breath of murmur
against the three maids, and the Duchess made herself so thoroughly
agreeable and sympathetic in every other way that Helena soon forgot the
infliction of the three maids. 'I only hope they are made quite
comfortable,' she said to the dignified housekeeper.

'A good deal more comfortable, Miss, than they had any right to expect,'
was the reply, and so all was settled.

This night, then, the Duchess summoned her maids around her and had her
hair 'fixed,' as she would herself have expressed it, and then made up
her mind to pay a visit to Helena. She had become really quite fond of
Helena--all the more because she felt sure that the girl had a
love-secret--and wished very much that Helena would take her into
confidence.

The Duchess appeared in Helena's room draped in a lovely dressing-gown
and wearing slippers with be-diamonded buckles. The Duchess evidently
was ready for a long dressing-gown talk. She liked to contemplate
herself in one of her new Parisian dressing-gowns, and she was quite
willing to give Helena her share in the gratification of the sight. But
Helena's thoughts were hopelessly away from dressing-gowns, even from
her own. S