yesterday afternoon. Why are you sorry?"

Francine remained silent. Without realizing it, she was beginning
to feel the dominant influence that Emily exercised over the
weaker natures that came in contact with her. To find herself
irresistibly attracted by a stranger at a new school--an
unfortunate little creature, whose destiny was to earn her own
living--filled the narrow mind of Miss de Sor with perplexity.
Having waited in vain for a reply, Emily turned away, and resumed
the train of thought which her schoolfellow had interrupted.



By an association of ideas, of which she was not herself aware,
she now passed from thinking of her aunt to thinking of Miss
Jethro. The interview of the previous night had dwelt on her mind
at intervals, in the hours of the new day.

Acting on instinct rather than on reason, she had kept that
remarkable incident in her school life a secret from every one.
No discoveries had been made by other persons. In speaking to her
staff of teachers, Miss Ladd had alluded to the affair in the
most cautious terms. "Circumstances of a private nature have
obliged the lady to retire from my school. When we meet after the
holidays, another teacher will be in her place." There, Miss
Ladd's explanation had begun and ended. Inquiries addressed to
the servants had led to no result. Miss Jethro's luggage was to
be forwarded to the London terminus of the railway--and Miss
Jethro herself had baffled investigation by leaving the school on
foot. Emily's interest in the lost teacher was not the transitory