few people realise what wonderful reserve force that delicate child
possesses. And such a tender heart! She was determined to come with
me when she heard of Miss Irving's trouble, but I thought it unwise
to take her until I had seen the place. She is so sensitive to her
surroundings, and it might be too painful for her. I am for ever
holding her back from overtaxing herself for others. No one dreams
of the amount of good that girl does in a secret, quiet way; and at
the same time she assumes an indifferent air and talks as if she were
quite heartless, just to hinder people from suspecting her charitable
work. She is such a strange, complicated character."

Armed with her card of introduction, the Baroness set forth on her
"errand of mercy." She had not mentioned Miss Irving's name to Mabel
or Alice. The secret of the rector's interest in the girl was locked
in her own breast. She knew that Mabel was wholly incapable of
coping with such a situation, and she dreaded the effect of the news
on Alice, who was absorbed in her love dream. The girl had never
been denied a wish in her life, and no thought came to her that she
could be thwarted in this, her most cherished hope of all.

The Baroness was determined to use every gun in her battery of
defence before she allowed Mabel or Alice to know that defence was
needed.

The rector's card admitted her to the parlour of a small flat. The
portieres of an adjoining room were thrown open presently, and a
vision of radiant beauty entered the room.

The Baroness could not explain it, but as the girl emerged from the
curtains, a strange, confused memory of something and somebody she