been in the habit of thinking that her beauty and amiability were
quite equivalent to any favours she received from humanity at large.
Ever since she was a plump girl in short dresses, she had learned
that smiles and compliments from her lips would purchase her friends
of both sexes, who would do disagreeable duties for her. She had
never made it a custom to pay out money for any service she could
obtain otherwise. So now as she looked on this young woman who,
though a widow, seemed still a mere child, it occurred to her that
Fate had with its usual kindness thrown in her path the very person
she needed.

She offered Berene "a home" at the Palace in return for a few small
services. The lonely girl, whose strangely solitary life with her
old father had excluded her from all social relations outside,
grasped at this offer from the handsome lady whom she had long
admired from a distance, and went to make her home at the Palace.



CHAPTER III



Berene had been several months in her new home when Preston Cheney
came to lodge at the Palace.

He met her on the stairway the first morning after his arrival, as he
was descending to the street door.

Bringing up a tray covered with a snowy napkin, she stepped to one