e merits of her plan, fortified by
Mrs. Owen's unexpected approval. Mrs. Bassett raised her eyes to Sylvia.
Sylvia, in one of the white gowns with which she relieved her mourning,
tranquilly unconscious of the dark terror she awakened in Mrs. Bassett,
seemed to be sympathetically interested in the Bassetts' transfer to the
capital.

Sylvia was guilty of the deplorable sin of making herself agreeable to
every one. She had paused on the way to her room before dinner to
proffer assistance to Mrs. Bassett. With a light, soothing touch she had
brushed the invalid's hair and dressed it; and she had produced a new
kind of salts that proved delightfully refreshing. Since coming to the
table Mrs. Bassett had several times detected her husband in an exchange
of smiles with the young woman, and Marian and the usurper got on
famously.

Mrs. Bassett had observed that Sylvia's appetite was excellent, and this
had weakened her belief in the girl's genius; there was a good deal of
Early-Victorian superstition touching women in Hallie Bassett! But Mrs.
Owen was speaking.

"I suppose I'd see less of you all if you moved to town. Marian used to
run off from Miss Waring's to cheer me up, mostly when her lessons were
bad, wasn't it, Marian?"

"I love this house, Aunt Sally, but you can't have us all on your hands
all the time."

"Well," Mrs. Owen remarked, glancing round the table quizzically, "I
might do worse. But even Sylvia scorns me; she's going to move out
to-morrow."

Mrs. Bassett with difficulty concealed her immeasurable relief. Mrs.
Owen left explanations to Sylvia, who promptly supplied them.

"That sounds as though I were about to take leave without settling my
bill, doesn't it? But I thought it wise not to let it get too big; I'm
going to move to Elizabeth House."

"Elizabeth House! Why, Sylvia!" cried Marian.

Mrs. Bassett smothered a sigh of satisfaction. If Aunt Sally was
transferring her protegee to the home she had established for working
girls (and it was inconceivable that the removal could be upon Sylvia's
own initiative), the Bassett prospects brightened at once. Aunt Sally
was, in her way, an aristocrat; she was rich and her eccentricities were
due largely to her kindness of heart; but Mrs. Bassett was satisfied now
that she was not a woman to harbor in her home a girl who labored in a
public school-house. Not only did Mrs. Bassett's confidence in her aunt
rise, but she felt a thrill of admiration for Sylv