about
their throats, stood close by the great doors, chatting merrily while
they waited. The usual small crowd of loafers were hanging about the
pavements, and as usual Gladys was saddened by the sight of the dejected
and oftentimes degraded-looking denizens of the lower quarters of the
city. It might be that, in contrast with the gay and handsomely-dressed
people from the West End, their poverty seemed even more pitiable.

'Now, Gladys, no such pained expression, if you please,' said the
observant Mina. 'Don't look as if you carried all the sins and sorrows
of Glasgow on your own shoulders. Good, here is the brougham; and pray
observe the expression on the countenance of James. Is it not a
picture?'

Gladys could not but laugh, and they tripped across the pavement to the
carriage. When they were all in, and Mr. Fordyce had given the word to
the coachman, a woman suddenly swerved from the pavement and peered in
at the carriage window. At the moment the impatient horses moved swiftly
away, and when Gladys begged them to stop it was too late; the woman was
lost in the crowd.

Gladys, however, had seen her face, and recognised it, in spite of the
change upon it, as the face of Walter's sister Liz.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XXVII.

GLADYS AND WALTER.

The fleeting vision of Liz Hepburn's familiar face appeared to fill
Gladys with excitement and unrest. As Mina looked at her flushed cheeks
and shining eyes, she felt a vague uneasiness visit her own heart. They
did not speak of her as they drove home, but when the girls gathered, as
was their wont, round the cheerful fire in the guest-chamber before
retiring for the night, Gladys asked them a question.

'Did you see her? She looked very ill, and very distressed. Do you not
think so? Oh, I fear she has been in trouble, and I must do all I can to
find out about her. If you will allow me, I shall remain another day in
town, and I can send a telegram to Miss Peck in the morning.'

Mina, on her knees beside her chair, her plump bare arm showing very
white and fair against the black lace of Gladys's gown, looked up at her
with a slightly troubled air.

'Gladys, I wish you wouldn't bother about that girl. You lay things far
too much to heart. It can't possibly concern you now. Let her own people
look after her.'

Gladys received this remark with rather an indignant look.

'Mina, that is not like you. You only assume such hard-heartedness. If
you saw her face