y novelties.

"You are tired," Mr. Graham said to her, watching her keenly as she sat
down in the chair that he offered her, and let her hands sink languidly
upon her lap. "We won't let you talk too much. Clara is going to see
after her bairns, and I'm going to read the _Pall Mall_. Here's the May
number of _The Decade_: have you seen it?"

She took it with a grateful smile; but she did not intend to read, and
Mr. Graham knew it. He perused his paper diligently, but he was
sufficiently interested in her to know exactly at what point she ceased
to brood and began to glance at the magazine. After a little while, she
became absorbed in its pages; and only when she laid it down at last,
with a half suppressed sigh, did he openly look up to find that her eyes
were full of tears.

"I hope that you discovered something to interest you," he said.

"I was reading a poem," Lettice answered, rather guiltily.

"Oh--Alan Walcott's 'Sorrow'? Very well done, isn't it? but a trifle
morbid, all the same."

"It is very sad. Is he--has he had much trouble?"

"I'm sure I couldn't tell you. Probably not, as he writes about it,"
said Graham, grimly. "He's a pessimist and a bit of a dilletante. If he
would work and believe in himself a little more, I think he might do
great things."

"He is young?"

"Over thirty. He comes to the house sometimes. I daresay you will meet
him before long."

Lettice said nothing. She was not in a mood to enjoy the prospect of
making new acquaintances; but the poem had touched her, and she felt a
slight thrill of interest in its writer.

"Yes," she said, "I shall be pleased to make his acquaintance--some
day." And then the conversation dropped, and Graham understood from her
tone that she was not disposed as yet to meet new faces.

The house on Brook Green proved eminently satisfactory. She agreed to
take it as soon as possible, and for the next few weeks her mind was
occupied with the purchase and arrangement of furniture, and the many
details which belong to the first start in a new career. Although her
tastes differed widely from those of Clara Graham, she found her
friend's advice and assistance infinitely valuable to her; and many were
the expeditions taken together to the Kensington shops to supply
Lettice's requirements. She had not Clara's love for shopping, or
Clara's eagerness for a bargain; but she took pleasure in her visits to
the great London store-houses of beautiful things, and made