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 somebody to my sitting-room every day or so that she thinks I’d enjoy meeting—and I always do. She never makes a mistake.”

“Oh, she’s wonderful,” Varian agreed easily. “There’s nobody like Mrs. Dud, of course.”

She stopped her work a moment and looked curiously at him.

“What do you mean by that?” she asked. “You all say it—in just that way; but I don’t think I quite see what you mean. Why is she wonderful? Because she looks so young?”

“That, in the first place,” Varian returned, with a smile, “but not only that.”

“Of course that is very strange,” she mused. “Now Lizzie is three years older than I. You would never think it, would you?”

“No,” he agreed, still smiling; “but then, Mrs. Dud looks younger than everybody. It is her specialty. I think what