’Oh yes, I like him, and so does Jill; but I wish he were a thousand miles off, and then Etta would give me a little peace.  How angry Gladys would be if she knew it!  But I don’t mean to trouble her about my small worries, poor darling.’

I had never heard Lady Betty speak with such womanly dignity.  She was so often childish and whimsical that one never expected her to be grave and responsible like other people.  She kissed me presently, and said I had done her good, and would I always believe in her in spite of Etta, for she was not the giddy little creature that Etta made her out to be; she was sure Giles would think more of her but for Etta’s mischief-making.

Mr. Hamilton came in after this, and sat down by us, but Miss Darrell did not make her appearance until the gong sounded, and then she hurried in with a breathless apology.  I do not know what made me watch her so closely all dinner-time.  She took very little part in the conversation, seemed absent and thoughtful, and started nervously when Mr. Hamilton spoke to her.  He told her once that she looked pale and tired, and she said then that the evening was close, and that her head ached.  I wondered then if the headache had made her eyes so heavy, or if she had been crying.

Mr. Hamilton was a little quiet, too, through dinner, but listened with great interest when Lady Betty and I talked about the approaching wedding.  I had to satisfy her curiosity on many points,—­the bride’s and bridesmaids’ dresses, and the programme for the day.

The details did not seem to bore Mr. Hamilton.  His face never once wore its cynical expression; but when we returned to the drawing-room, and Lady Betty wanted to continue the subject, he took her quietly by the shoulders and marched her off to Miss Darrell.

‘Make the child hold her tongue, Etta,’ he said good-humouredly.  ’I want to coax Miss Garston to sing to us.’  And then he came to me with the smile I liked best to see on his face, and held out his hand.

I was quite willing to oblige him, and he kept me hard at work for nearly an hour, first asking me if I were tired, and then begging for one more song; and sometimes I thought of Gladys as I sang, and sometimes of Max, and once of Mrs. Carrick, with her wonderful gray eyes, and her false fair face.

When I had finished I saw Mr. Hamilton looking at me rather strangely.

‘Why do you sing such sad songs?’ he asked, in a low voice, as though he did not wish to be overheard; but he need not have been afraid:  Miss Darrell was evidently taking no notice of any one just then.  She was lying back in her chair with her eyes closed, and I noticed afterwards that her forehead was lined like an old woman’s.

‘I like melancholy songs,’ was my reply, and I fingered the notes a little nervously, for his look was rather too keen just then, and I had been thinking of Mrs. Carrick.

‘But you are not melancholy,’ he persisted.  ’There is no weak sentimentality in your nature.  Just now there was a passion in your voice that startled me, as though you were drawing from some secret well.’  He paused, and then went on, half playfully,—­