Meanwhile Gladys, all unconscious alike of his deep dejection and his happier mood, sat quite silently in the corner of the luxurious carriage, her eyes dim with tears.  Her kind friend, noticing that she was moved, left her in peace.  Her sympathy was true, and could be quiet, and that is much.

‘Suppose you sit up and look out, my dear?’ she said at last.  ’We are crossing Kelvin Bridge.  Have you been as far West before?’

Gladys sat up obediently, and looked from the carriage window upon the river tumbling between its banks.

‘Is this Glasgow?’ she asked, wondering to see the trees waving greenly in the gentle April breeze.

’Yes, my dear, of course; and we are almost home.  I am sure you will be glad, you look so tired,’ said Mrs. Fordyce kindly.  ’Never mind; you shall have a cup of tea immediately, and then you shall lie down and sleep as long as you like.’

‘Oh, I never sleep in the day-time, thank you,’ said Gladys; and as the carriage swept along a handsome terrace and into Bellairs Crescent, where the gardens were green with all the beauty of earliest summer, her face visibly brightened.

‘It is quite like the country,’ she said.  ’I cannot believe it is Glasgow.’

’Sometimes we feel it dingy enough, my love.  We are talking of the Coast already, but perhaps we shall fall in love with the Crescent a second time through you.  Eh, my dear?’ she said, with a nod.  ’Well, here we are.’

The carriage drew up before the steps of a handsome house, the door was opened, and a dainty maid ran down to take the wraps.  Gladys looked at her curiously, and thought of Walter.  Well, it was a great change.  Gladys had an eye for the beautiful, and the arrangement of the hall, with its soft rugs, carved furniture, and green plants, with gleams of statuary here and there, rested and delighted her.

’We’ll just go to the drawing-room at once.  My girls will be out of all patience for tea,’ said Mrs. Fordyce.  ’Nay, my dear, don’t shrink.  I assure you they are happy, kind-hearted girls, just like yourself.’

Gladys long remembered her first introduction to the brighter side of life.  She followed Mrs. Fordyce somewhat timidly into a large and handsome room, and saw at the farther end, near the fireplace, a dainty tea-table spread, and a young girl in a blue serge gown cutting a cake into a silver basket.  Another knelt at the fire.  Gladys was struck by the exceeding grace of her attitude, though she could not see her face.

‘My dears,’ said Mrs. Fordyce quickly, ’here we are.  I hope tea is ready?  We are quite ready for it.’

’It has been up an age, mamma; Mina and I were thinking to ring for some fresh tea.  Is this Miss Graham?’

It was the one who had been kneeling by the fire who spoke, and she came forward frankly and with a pleasant smile, though her eyes keenly noted every detail of the stranger’s appearance and attire.