'I don't think I can come again. She'll be here.'

'Mildred! What difference can it make?'

'We shall see. ...'

The door opened. Ellen came in, and Mildred got up to go.

'I hope you've enjoyed your walk, Miss Gibbs.'

'Yes, thank you. I haven't been out for some days.'

'Nursing is very fatiguing. ... Good-bye, Mr. Hoskin. I hope I shall
soon hear that you're better. Perhaps Miss Gibbs will write.'

'Yes, I'll write, but I'm afraid Mr. Hoskin has been talking too much.
... Let me open the door for you.'




XII.


When she got home she went to her room. She took off her dress and put
on an old wrapper, and then lay on the floor and cried. She could not
cry in a pair of stays. To abandon herself wholly to grief she must
have her figure free.

And all that evening she hardly spoke; she lay back in her chair, her