Madeley on the Castle Hill. I had liked the look of her from the
first, and I liked it still better now. By dint of persuasion, I
made her tell me all about herself."

"Did she tell you the truth?"

"Why should you suppose she didn't?" replied Narramore with some
emphasis. "You must look at this affair in a different light,
Hilliard. A joke is a joke, but I've told you that the joking time
has gone by. I can make allowance for you: you think I have been
making a fool of myself, after all."

"The beginning was ominous."

"The beginning of our acquaintance? Yes, I know how it strikes you.
But she came in that way because she had been trying for months
----"

"Who was it that told her of you?"

"Oh, one of our girls, no doubt. I haven't asked her--never
thought again about it."

"And what's her record?"

"Nothing dramatic in it, I'm glad to say. At one time she had an
engagement in London for a year or two. Her people, 'poor but
honest'--as the stories put it. Father was a timekeeper at Dudley;
brother, a mechanic there. I was over to see her yesterday; we had
only just said good-bye when I met you. She's remarkably well