tton, breaking in determinedly
upon her, found her lying prone upon the sofa, Karen beside her.

"I cannot see you, my Scrotton," said Madame von Marwitz, with kindly
yet listless decision. "Did they not tell you below that I was seeing
nobody? Karen is with me to watch over my ill-temper. She is a soothing
little milk-poultice and I can bear nothing else. I am worn out."

Before poor Miss Scrotton's brow of gloom Karen suggested that she
should herself go down to Mrs. Forrester for tea and leave her place to
Miss Scrotton, but, with a weary shake of the head, Madame von Marwitz
rejected the proposal. "No; Scrotton is too intelligent for me to-day,"
she said. "You will go down to Mrs. Forrester for your tea, my Scrotton,
and wait for another day to see me."

Miss Scrotton went down nearly in tears.

"She refused to see Sir Alliston," Mrs. Forrester said, soothingly. "She
really is fit for nothing. I have never seen her so exhausted."

"Yet Karen Jardine always manages to force her way in," said Miss
Scrotton, controlling the tears with difficulty. "She has absolutely
taken possession of Mercedes. It really is almost absurd, such devotion,
and in a married woman. Gregory doesn't like it at all. Oh, I know it.
Betty Jardine gave me a hint only yesterday of how matters stand."

"Lady Jardine has always seemed to me a rather trivial little person. I
should not accept her impression of a situation," said Mrs. Forrester.
"Mercedes sends for Karen constantly. And I am sure that Gregory is glad
to think that she can be of use to Mercedes."

"Oh, Betty Jardine thinks, too, that it is Mercedes who takes Karen from
her husband. But I really can't agree with her, or with you, dear Mrs.
Forrester, there. Mercedes is simply too indolent and kind-hearted to
defend herself from the sort of habit the girl has imposed upon her. As
for Gregory being grateful I can only assure you that you are entirely
mistaken. My own impression is that he is beginning to dislike Mercedes.
Oh, he is a very jealous temperament; I have always felt it in him. He
is one of those cold, passionate men who become the most infatuated and
tyrannical of husbands."

"My dear Eleanor," Mrs. Forrester raised her eyebrows. "I see no sign of
tyranny. He allows Karen to come here constantly."

"Yes; because he knows that to refuse would be to endanger his relation
to her. Mercedes is angelic to him of course, and doesn't give him a
chance for making things diffi