ng young woman
instantly lost in the study of Mrs. Westmore's toilet--had replaced the
dark-eyed attendant of the day before; and supposing that the latter was
temporarily off duty, he asked Mrs. Ogan if she might be seen.

The matron's face was a picture of genteel perplexity. "The other nurse?
Our regular surgical nurse, Miss Golden, is ill--Miss Hibbs, here, is
replacing her for the present." She indicated the gaping damsel; then,
as Amherst persisted: "Ah," she wondered negligently, "do you mean the
young lady you saw here yesterday? Certainly--I had forgotten: Miss
Brent was merely a--er--temporary substitute. I believe she was
recommended to Dr. Disbrow by one of his patients; but we found her
quite unsuitable--in fact, unfitted--and the doctor discharged her this
morning."

Mrs. Westmore had drawn near, and while the matron delivered her
explanation, with an uneasy sorting and shifting of words, a quick
signal of intelligence passed between her hearers. "You see?" Amherst's
eyes exclaimed; "I see--they have sent her away because she told you,"
Bessy's flashed back in wrath, and his answering look did not deny her
inference.

"Do you know where she has gone?" Amherst enquired; but Mrs. Ogan,
permitting her brows a faint lift of surprise, replied that she had no
idea of Miss Brent's movements, beyond having heard that she was to
leave Hanaford immediately

In the carriage Bessy exclaimed: "It was the nurse, of course--if we
could only find her! Brent--did Mrs. Ogan say her name was Brent?"

"Do you know the name?"

"Yes--at least--but it couldn't, of course, be the girl I knew----"

"Miss Brent saw you the night you arrived, and thought she recognized
you. She said you and she had been at some school or convent together."

"The Sacred Heart? Then it _is_ Justine Brent! I heard they had lost
their money--I haven't seen her for years. But how strange that she
should be a hospital nurse! And why is she at Hanaford, I wonder?"

"She was here only on a visit; she didn't tell me where she lived. She
said she heard that a surgical nurse was wanted at the hospital, and
volunteered her services; I'm afraid she got small thanks for them."

"Do you really think they sent her away for talking to you? How do you
suppose they found out?"

"I waited for her last night when she left the hospital, and I suppose
Mrs. Ogan or one of the doctors saw us. It was thoughtless of me,"
Amherst exclaimed with compunction.

"I