njoyable.'

There came into the lamplight a rather tall figure in plain,
serviceable travelling-costume. Alma discerned a face which gave her a
shock of surprise, so unlike was it to anything she had imagined; the
features regular and of intelligent expression, but so thin, pallid,
worn, that they seemed to belong to a woman of nearly forty, weighted
by years of extreme suffering. The demeanour which Alma had studiously
prepared underwent an immediate change; she stepped forward with an air
of frank kindliness, of cordial hospitality.

'Wasn't your train late? How tired you must be--and how cold! In these
fine spring days we have been living as if it were midsummer, but I'm
sure you oughtn't to have had that long drive in the open trap so late.
Harvey thinks everybody as robust as himself----'

But the guest was in very good spirits, though manifestly fatigued. She
spoke with pleasure of the beautiful wild country, glowing in sunset. A
little tired, yes; she had not travelled so far for a long time; but
the air had braced her wonderfully, and after a night's rest----

At dinner Alma behaved with the same friendliness, closely observing
her guest, and listening to all she said, as if anxious not to miss a
word. Mrs. Abbott conversed in a very low voice; her manner was marked
by a subdual which might partly be attributable to weariness, but
seemed in a measure the result of timidity under novel circumstances.
If she looked at either of her companions, her eyes were instantly
withdrawn. A smile never lingered on her features; it came and passed,
leaving the set expression of preoccupied gravity. She wore a dress of
black silk, close at the neck; and Alma perceived that it was by no
means new.

An hour after the meal she begged permission to retire to her room. The
effort to talk had become impossible; she was at the end of her
strength, and could hold up no longer.

When Alma came down again, she stood for a minute before the fire,
smiling and silent. Harvey had picked up a newspaper; he said nothing.

'How very nice she is!' fell at length from Mrs. Rolfe's lips.

'Astonishingly altered,' was her husband's murmured reply.

'Indeed? In what way?'

'Looks so wretchedly ill, for one thing.'

'We must take her about. What do you think of doing tomorrow?'

By feminine device of indirect question, Alma obtained some
understanding of the change that had come upon Mrs. Abbott during the
past three years. Harvey's di