do what was honest--if you had only given me time. Then you slipped out
and did it!"

Constance stared in bewilderment.

"Are you the mistress in this house?" she said.

Nora nodded. Her colour had all faded away, and her breath was coming
quick. "I practically am," she said stoutly.

"At seventeen?" asked Connie, ironically.

Nora nodded again.

Connie turned away, and walked to the window. She was enraged with Nora,
whose attack upon her seemed quite inexplicable and incredible. Then,
all in a moment, a bitter forlornness overcame her. Nora, standing by
the table, and already pierced with remorse, saw her cousin's large eyes
fill with tears. Connie sat down with her face averted. But
Nora--trembling all over--perceived that she was crying. The next
moment, the newcomer found Nora kneeling beside her, in the depths of
humiliation and repentance.

"I am a beast!--a horrid beast! I always am. Oh, please, please don't
cry!"

"You forget"--said Connie, with difficulty--"how I--how I miss my
mother!"

And she broke into a fit of weeping. Nora, beside herself with