she thought: "Why are these people so fond
of me? They don't even ask how it was I didn't write to tell them I was
coming. They just accept me and welcome me without questions.... No! I
can never tell them! It simply couldn't be told, here! If they find out,
so much the worse!"

"You must ask him!" Alicia answered, blushing.

"All right, Alicia. We'll be ready in a minute or two," said Janet in a
peculiar voice.

It was a gentle command to Alicia to leave her elders alone to their
adult confidences. And unwilling Alicia had to obey.

But there were no confidences. The talk, as it were, shivered on the
brink of a confidence, but never plunged.

"Does she guess?" Hilda reflected.

The conversation so halted that at length Janet was driven to the
banality of saying:

"I'm so sorry we have to go out!"

And Hilda protested with equal banality, and added: "I suppose you're
going out a lot just now?"

"Oh no!" said Janet. "We go out less and less, and we get quieter and
quieter. I mean _us_. The boys are always out, you know." She seemed
saddened. "I did think Edwin Clayhanger would come in sometimes, now
they're living next door--"

"They're in their new house, then!" said Hilda, with casualness.

"Oh, long ago! And I'm sure it's ages since he was here. I like
Maggie--his sister."

Hilda knelt to her trunk.

"Did he ever inquire after me?" she demanded, with an air of archness,
but hiding her face.

"As a matter of fact he _did_--once," said Janet, imitating Hilda's
manner.

"Well, that's something," said Hilda.

There was a sharp knock at the door.

"Hot water, miss!" cried the voice of Martha.

The next instant Martha was arranging the ewer and the can and some
clean towels on the washstand. Her face was full of joy in the
unexpected arrival. She was as excited as if Hilda had been her own
friend instead of Janet's.

"Well, dear, shall you be all right now?" said Janet. "Perhaps I ought
to be going. You may depend on it I shall get back as early as ever I
can."

The two girls kissed, with even more freedom than in the hall. It seemed
astonishing to Hilda, as her face was close to Janet's, that Janet did
not exclaim: "Something has happened to you. What is it? You are not as
you used to be! You are not like me!" She felt herself an imposter.

"Why should I tell?" Hilda reflected. "What end will it serve? It's
nobody's business but mine. _He_ is gone. He'll never come back.
Everything's over....