ld her ruefully she was
spoiling it all by being too grateful.

"For, you see," she explained as Mrs. Murray not unnaturally looked much
perplexed at this remark, "I wanted to be unselfish and improve my
character; but you make it such a pleasure to do anything for you, that
if I was really to practise self-denial I would go away and leave you to
Hannah."

"All the time I have been with you," she went on suddenly dropping her
tone of half-whimsical complaint, and speaking very earnestly, "I have
taken all and given nothing. And people who do that must have such hard,
selfish natures that I feel dreadfully ashamed of myself."

"My dear, it has been an infinite pleasure to have you with me," said
Mrs. Murray, when she had gathered the drift of Eleanor's remark.
"Though, owing to my being so deaf, and you being always so busy, we have
not perhaps been much together; still, I have enjoyed having you in the
house more than I can say. You have been a fresh interest in my rather
restricted life, and I shall feel parting with you dreadfully. Ah, how
I wish your grandfather would let me keep you altogether! But that, of
course, I cannot expect. Did he give you any idea how long he meant you
to stay?"

"I--I don't remember," Eleanor said, flushing scarlet. And to herself she
thought sadly how completely Mrs. Murray's good opinion of her would
change when she knew how she had deceived her. That reflection was really
her first step towards repentance, and she was astonished and not a
little dismayed to find how rapidly her newly awakened conscience was
driving her along to a point where confession would become essential to
her own peace of mind. But she had some distance yet to travel before she
reached it, and as it happened she missed for ever the opportunity of
making a voluntary confession of her misdeeds, for on the afternoon of
the day on which Margaret left The Cedars, Mr. Anstruther made a totally
unexpected appearance at Rose Cottage.

Mrs. Murray had come downstairs for the first time, and she and Eleanor
were sitting over the fire about half-past four enjoying a cosy tea, when
the sound of wheels grating on the gravel was heard, and Eleanor saw a
cab draw up at the front door. Visitors on such a day when the mist was
so thick that even the other end of the lawn was shrouded from view, were
totally unexpected, and Eleanor glancing out of the window wondered who
the brave people might be who would venture up on to the