t stunned
her.

"Oh, good Lord!" she said. "I can't wear that. That isn't me."

Then she tossed the dress on the bed and started in a headlong rush to
the kitchen. As she came through the door, "You blessed old darling!"
she cried. "What am I going to say to make you know how I appreciate
your lovely, lovely gift?"

Katy raised her head. There was something that is supposed to be the
prerogative of royalty in the lift of it. Her smile was complacent in
the extreme.

"Don't ye be standin' there wastin' no time talkie'," she said.

"I have oodles of time," said Linda, "but I warn you, you won't know me
if I put on that frock, Katy."

"Yes, I will, too," said Katy.

"Katy," said Linda, sobering suddenly, "would it make any great
difference to you if I were the only one here for always, after this?"

Katy laughed contemptuously.

"Well, I'd warrant to survive it," she said coolly.

"But that is exactly what I must tell you, Katy," said Linda soberly.
"You know I have told you a number of times through these years that I
did not believe Eileen and I were sisters, and I am telling you now that
I know it. She did not come to the bank today, and the settlement of
Father's affairs developed the fact that I was my father's child and
Eileen was her mother's; and I'm thinking, Katy, that the big car
you saw and the opulent people in it were Eileen's mother's wealthy
relatives from San Francisco. My guess is, Katy, that Eileen has gone
with them for good. Lock her door and don't touch her things until we
know certainly what she wants done with them."

Katy stood thinking intently, then she lifted her eyes to Linda's.

"Lambie," she whispered softly, "are we ixpicted to go into mourning
over this?"

A mischievous light leaped into Linda's eyes.

"Well, if there are any such expectations abroad, Katherine O'Donovan,"
she said soberly, "the saints preserve 'em, for we can't fulfill 'em,
can we, Katy?"

"Not to be savin' our souls," answered Katy heartily. "I'm jist
so glad and thankful that I don't know what to do, and it's such good
news that I don't belave one word of it. And while you're talkie', what
about John Gilman?"

"I think," said Linda quietly, "that tonight is going to teach him how
Marian felt in her blackest hours."

"Well, he needn't be coming to me for sympathy," said Katy. "But if Miss
Eileen has gone to live with the folks that come after her the day, ye
might be savin' a wee crap o' sympathy