"In every way," he said dreamily; "the same sweet--pardon me, but it
is very remarkable. Even the tones of the voice are the same. I
suppose I ought not to ask your age?"

"I shall be twenty-one in August." "She would have been twenty-one
in August had she lived," Tommy said with fervour. "My dear young
lady--"

This was the aged gentleman again, but she did not wince; he soon
found out that they expect authors to say the oddest things, and this
proved to be a great help to him.

"My dear young lady, I feel that I know you very well."

"That," she said, "is only because I resemble your friend outwardly.
The real me (she was a bit of philosopher also) you cannot know at
all."

He smiled sadly. "Has it ever struck you," he asked, "that you are
very unlike other women?"

"Oh, how ever could you have found that out?" she exclaimed, amazed.

Almost before he knew how it came about, he was on terms of very
pleasant sentiment with this girl, for they now shared between them a
secret that he had confided to no other. His face, which had been so
much against him hitherto, was at last in his favour; it showed so
plainly that when he looked at her more softly or held her hand longer
than is customary, he was really thinking of that other of whom she