stal got out first, and went in search
of the luggage. I concealed myself behind a bale of goods--wool-packs,
I believe--and she passed me quite closely; I could have touched her
with my hand. She looked very well, only thinner, and I think older;
it struck me she had grown, too, for she certainly looked taller."

"It is possible; and you really saw her face, Margaret?"

"Yes; she was looking away. She is as beautiful as ever, Raby. No
wonder people stare at her so. She is as much like your ideal Esther
as she used to be, only there is a grander look about her
altogether--less like the girl, and more of the woman."

"Ah, she has suffered so; we have all aged, Maggie. She will think us
both changed."

Margaret suppressed a sigh--she was almost thankful that Raby's blind
eyes could not see the difference in her. He was quite unconscious
that her youthful bloom had faded, and that her fair face had a
settled, matured look that seldom comes before middle age; and she was
glad that this was so. Neither of them spoke now of the strange blight
that had passed over her young life. Margaret had long ceased to weep
over it; it was her cross, she said, and she had learned its weight by
this time.

"Well, Margaret?" for she had paused for a moment.

"I did not dare to leave my place of concealment until she had passed.
I saw Miss Campion join her. She is a pleasant, brisk-looking woman
with gray hair, and rather a young face. I followed them out of the
station, and heard them order the driver to bring them here."

"Here! To this house, Margaret?"

"Yes--wait a moment--but of course I knew what Mrs. O'Brien would
say--that there was no room; so I did not trouble to follow them very
closely; in fact, I knew it would be useless; when I did arrive I went
straight to Mrs. O'Brien's parlor, and asked if she had managed to
accommodate the two ladies.

"'I did not know they were friends of yours, Miss Ferrers,' she said,
regretfully. 'But what could I do? There is not a vacant bed in the
house, and I knew the hotel would be just as full; so I sent them down
to Mrs. Maddox, at the corner house, down yonder--it is only a
stone's-throw from here. And, as I told the ladies, they can join us
at luncheon and dinner, and make use of the drawing-room. I knew Mrs.
Maddox had her two best bedrooms and the front parlor empty.' Of
course I thanked Mrs. O'Brien, and said no doubt this would do
excellently for our friends; and then I walked p