"But I have told you my provocation. You cannot believe that I am
guilty of her sin; not if you look at her as I am looking now."

But their glances hardly followed her pointing finger. Her
friends--the comrades of her youth, the Inseparables with their
secret oath--one and all held themselves aloof, struck by the
perfidy they were only just beginning to take in. Smitten with
despair, for these girls were her life, she gave one wild leap
and sank on her knees before Alicia.

"O speak!" she began. "Forgive me, and--"

A tremble seized her throat; she ceased to speak and let fall her
partially uplifted hands. The cheery sound of men's voices had
drifted in from the terrace, and the figure of Captain
Holliday could be seen passing by. The shudder which shook
Caroline West communicated itself to Alicia Driscoll, and the
former rising quickly, the two women surveyed each other,
possibly for the first time, with open soul and a complete
understanding.

"Caroline!" murmured the one.

"Alicia!" pleaded the other.

"Caroline, trust me," said Alicia Driscoll in that moving voice
of hers, which more than her beauty caught and retained all
hearts. "You have served me ill, but it was not all undeserved.
Girls," she went on, eyeing both them and her father with the