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 your nephew's note to Linda—that you were coming to us.'

'Ah, then he wrote?' I exclaimed.

'Certainly he wrote.'

'You take it all harder than I do,' I remarked, sitting down beside her. And then I added, smiling, 'Have you written to his mother?'

She slowly turned her face to me and rested her eyes on mine. 'Take care, take care, or you'll insult me,' she said, with an air of patience before the inevitable.

'Never, never! Unless you think I do so if I ask you if you knew when Linda wrote.'

She hesitated a moment. 'Yes; she showed me her letter. She wouldn't have done anything else. I let it go because I didn't know what it was best to do. I am afraid to oppose her, to her face.'

'Afraid, my dear friend, with that girl? That girl? Much you know about her! It didn't follow that you would come—I didn't think it need follow.'

'I am like you,' I said—'I am afraid of my nephew. I don't venture to oppose him to his face. The only thing I could do under the circumstances was to come with him.'

'I see; I'm glad you have done it,' said Mrs. Pallant, thoughtfully.

'Oh, I was conscientious about that! But I have no authority; I can't order him nor forbid him—I can use no force. Look at the way he is pulling that boat and see if you can fancy me.'

'You could tell him she's a bad, hard girl, who would poison any good man's life!' my companion suddenly broke out, with a kind of passion.