think? They have to receive her now and then."

"I can't say that I have much cause to respect my friends' opinions,
and I'm not afraid of the girl's contaminating me," Mrs. Keith replied.
"Besides, Millicent lost her mother early and lived with her aunts
until a few months before her father's death. I expect Eustace felt
more embarrassed than grateful when she came to take care of him, but,
to do him justice, he would see that none of the taint of his
surroundings rested on the girl. He did wrong, but I think he paid for
it, and it is better to be charitable."

She broke off, and glanced down at the big liner with cream-colored
funnel that was slowly swinging across the stream.

"I must send Millicent to buy our tickets for Montreal," she said.
"The hotel will be crowded before long with that steamer's noisy
passengers. I shall be glad to escape from it all. Let us hope that
Montreal will be quieter, and we shall have a chance to see a bit of
Canada."

Mrs. Ashborne opened the _Morning Post_, and presently looked up at her
companion.

"'A marriage--between Blanche Newcombe and Captain Challoner--at
Thornton Holme, in Shropshire,'" she read out. "Do you know the bride?"

"I know Bertram Challoner better," Mrs. Keith replied, and was silent
for a minute or two, musing on former days. "His mother was an old
friend of mine--a woman of imagination, with strong artistic tastes;
and Bertram resembles her. It was his father, the Colonel, who forced