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 breath his trip to Europe melted away and was as if it had never been. Then Thorndyke very artfully found out the hour of her departure, which was to be three days later.

When Constance, on a warm June morning, arrived at the station, with her five negro servants and her household and personal paraphernalia, to start for her summer in Virginia, she found Thorndyke waiting for her. In the station he had met Annette Crane, who had just seen a constituent off on the train. At the same moment they caught sight of Constance.

"Come," said Thorndyke, "go with me and say good-bye to Miss Maitland. She is a real friend of yours, and I know she will be glad to see you before she goes."

"I feel that she is a real friend," answered Annette. "I never knew a woman in whom I felt greater confidence."

"Constance is a very loyal and a very large-minded woman," replied Thorndyke, absently. He had used her first name inadvertently, and only became conscious of it when Annette began laughing softly. Then he coloured violently, and explained that he