“He fell violently in love with Edith, who had her mother’s beautiful blue eyes and the combination of white skin and black hair that go to make an Irish beauty.  She returned his love, and after a brief engagement they were married, much against the wishes of Margaret, who thought them both too young and impressionable to know their own minds.”

“And did they live happy ever after?” asked Grace eagerly.

“That is the sad part of my story,” said Mrs. Gray, sighing.  “They were anything but happy.  They both had too much of the artistic temperament to live peaceably.  Besides, Guido Savelli was thoroughly selfish at heart.  Next to himself, his music was the only thing in the world that he really cared for.  When they had been married for about a year and a half he played before the king, and soon became the man of the hour.  He neglected his beautiful young wife, who, in spite of their frequent quarrels, loved him with a pure and disinterested affection.

“Finally he went on a concert tour through the principal European cities, and she never saw him again.  She wrote him repeatedly, but he never answered her letters, and she was too proud to follow him.  She had one child, a baby girl, named Eleanor, who was the sole comfort of the heartbroken mother.”

At this juncture Anne and Grace exchanged significant glances.

“When Eleanor was about a year old, the mother wrote Guido Savelli once more, begging him to come to her, if only for the sake of his child, but either he never received the letter or else paid no attention to it, for she received no reply.  She relapsed into a dull, apathetic state, from which the repeated efforts of her sister failed to arouse her.  The following winter she contracted pneumonia and died, leaving her sister the sole guardian of Eleanor.”

“How long ago did all this happen, dear Mrs. Gray?” queried Nora eagerly, “and is little Eleanor living?”

“It was sixteen years ago, my dear,” replied Mrs. Gray, “and the reason that I have told you this long tale is because the baby girl is almost a woman now, and——­”

“The girl is Eleanor Savell and we met her the other day,” broke in Grace excitedly, forgetting for an instant that she had interrupted Mrs. Gray.  “She is going to live at ‘Heartsease’ and——­ oh, Mrs. Gray, please pardon me for interrupting you, I was so excited that I didn’t realize my own rudeness.”

“Granted, my dear,” smiled the old lady.  “But how did you happen to meet Eleanor?  They arrived only a few days ago.”

Grace rapidly narrated their meeting and conversation with Eleanor, while Mrs. Gray listened without comment.  When Grace repeated Eleanor’s remark about having made up her mind, the old lady looked a little troubled.  Then her face cleared and she said softly: