Dick moved uneasily. He had not the slightest idea what he ought to do;
he felt horribly like an intruder. And he was intensely sorry for the
girl, even though behind this sorrow lay the shock of a half-formed
ideal which she had shattered in his mind. Finally he submerged the man
in the doctor and moved towards her.

"I am most awfully sorry for you," he said, "will you let me help you if
I can? There may be some mistake, and anyway I could give you something
to help with those fainting-fits."

Joan brought her eyes away from the garden and looked at him. "No," she
said, "there is no mistake and I do not make a habit of fainting.
Yesterday it was different, perhaps I realized definitely and for the
first time what it would all mean. I saw Aunt Janet's face as she spoke
of the dead girl, and ... I do not know why I am telling you all this,"
she broke off, "it cannot be very interesting, but I do not want you to
think that I feel as Bridget Rendle felt."

"No," he agreed, "you are facing it with more courage than she had been
taught to have."

"It is not a question of courage," Joan answered. He was not
understanding her, she realized, and for some stupid reason it hurt that
he should not, but she must not stoop to further explanations. She stood
up, making a stern effort at absolute calmness.

"Good-bye," she said, "I am sorry you should have been troubled to come
and that you should have had to go through this sort of scene."

"Good-bye," was all he could answer.

At the door he turned to look back at her. "If you should need help of
any sort at any time," he said, "will you send for me? I should like to
feel you were going to do that."

"I cannot promise," she answered, "you see, I shall probably be leaving
here quite soon."

And with that he had to be content to leave her.

CHAPTER VI

"And bending down beside the glowing bars
Murmur, a little sadly, how love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead,
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars."

Mabel had shampooed her mother's hair, following out with unending
patience the minute instructions which the process always involved. She
had rinsed it in four relays of hot water, two of lukewarm and one of
cold; she had dried it with the hard towel for the scalp and the soft
towel for the hair. She had rubbed brilliantine in to give it the
approved gloss. The whole proceeding had lasted fully two hours; now she
stood and brushed ou