seen her without it!

"Yes, yes; in one moment," she answered fussily. "I will come to your
room in one minute."

Molly felt checked, and there had been something strange and unfamiliar
in Miss Carew's face. Suddenly she felt what it would be to tell Miss
Carew the truth--Miss Carew, who was now her dependent, receiving from
her L100 a year, would be shocked and startled out of her senses, and
might not take these horrible revelations at all kindly. It would,
anyhow, be such a reversal of their mutual positions as Molly could not
face. And by the time the chestnut hair tinged with grey had been pinned
a little crooked on Miss Carew's head, and she had knocked timidly at
Molly's door, she was startled and offended by the impatient,
overbearing tone of the voice that asked her to "go back to bed and not
to bother; it was nothing that mattered."

The night had got on further than Molly knew by that time, and she was
relieved to hear it strike four o'clock. She was astonished at noticing
that, while she had been walking up and down, up and down her room, she
had never heard the clock strike two or three. The fact of having spoken
to Miss Carew had brought her for the moment out of the inferno of the
last few hours, and the time from four o'clock to six was less utterly
miserable because worse had gone before it.

At six she called the housemaid, and kept her fussing about the room,
lighting the fire, and getting tea, so as not to be alone again. At
eight o'clock she sent for coffee and eggs, and the coffee had to be
made twice before she was satisfied with it. Then she suddenly said she
felt much better, and, having dressed much more quickly than usual, she
went out.

Molly had determined to confide the position to Father Molyneux. When
she got to the church in Kensington it was only to find that Father
Molyneux had gone away for some days.

That evening the doctor was again summoned, and told Miss Carew that he
had now no doubt that Miss Dexter was suffering from influenza, with
acute cerebral excitement, and the case was decidedly anxious.

"He might have found out that it was influenza last night," said Miss
Carew indignantly, "and I even told him the housemaid had just had
influenza! Molly simply caught it from her, as I always thought she
would."

BOOK III

CHAPTER XXI

AN INTERLUDE OF HAPPINESS

An interlude of happiness, six weeks of almost uninterrupted enjoyment,
followed for Rose afte