in London?'

'Yes,' answered Teen, without a moment's hesitation 'Learnin' to be an
actress, as sure as I sit here.'

'Somehow I don't think it. I have an odd feeling at times about her, as
if she were not so far away from us as we imagine.'

'She's no' in Glesca, onyway. She couldna be in Glesca withoot me
kennin',' replied Teen confidently. 'There's some that think she gaed
aff wi' a beau, but they never said it twice to me. I kent Liz better
than that. She could watch hersel'.'

'Did you know him, the man you call her beau?' inquired Gladys, with a
slight blush.

'Ay, I kent him,' said Teen, looking away over the landscape as if she
suddenly found it of new and absorbing interest.

'And have you seen him since?'

'Ay.'

'Did you speak to him, or ask him if he knew anything about her?'

'No' me; it's nane o' my business to meddle; but maybe I wad ask him if
I had a chance,' said Teen, with a peculiar pressure of the lips.

'Who is he, Teen? Do you know his name?'

'Ay, fine that; but it wad dae nae guid to say,' replied Teen guardedly.
'I dinna think he had onything to dae wi' her gaun away, onyway.'

Gladys perceived that Teen was determined to be utterly loyal to her
friend, and admired her for it.

That very afternoon, however, Teen saw occasion to change her mind on
the subject. After lunch, while Gladys was busy with letter-writing,
Teen went out to pay a visit to Mrs. Macintyre at the lodge. She was
walking very leisurely down the avenue, admiring the brilliant glossy
green of the laurels and hollies, when the tall figure of a man in a
long ulster came swinging round the curve which hid the gates from view.
Teen gave a great start, and the dusky colour leaped in her face when
she recognised him. His cheek flushed too with distinct annoyance, and
surprise was also visible on his face.

'What are you doing here?' he asked, without the shadow of other
greeting.

Teen looked up at him with a kind of quiet insolence in her heavy dark
eyes.

'That's my business,' she said calmly, and picked to pieces the leaf she
had in her hand.

'Are you staying here?' he asked then, with undisguised uneasiness,
which secretly delighted Teen. If there was a human being she mortally
disliked and distrusted, it was Mr. George Fordyce.

'Yes, I'm stayin' at the big hoose.'

'With Miss Graham?'

Teen nodded, and a faint, melancholy smile, half of scorn, half of
amusement, touched her thin lips.

'How the deu