the house.

A certain proportion--and not a small one--of the men at the lawn-party
had been brought there by friends who were privileged to introduce
them. The moment she appeared every one of those men suddenly became
interested in the lady who had been chosen first.

"That's a very charming woman," whispered one of the strangers at the
house to one of the friends of the house. "Who is she?"

The friend whispered back.

"Miss Lundie's governess--that's all."

The moment during which the question was put and answered was also the
moment which brought Lady Lundie and Miss Silvester face to face in the
presence of the company.

The stranger at the house looked at the two women, and whispered again.

"Something wrong between the lady and the governess," he said.

The friend looked also, and answered, in one emphatic word:

"Evidently!"

There are certain women whose influence over men is an unfathomable
mystery to observers of their own sex. The governess was one of those
women. She had inherited the charm, but not the beauty, of her unhappy
mother. Judge her by the standard set up in the illustrated gift-books