"No; he is but a distant connection. I mean my first cousin, Mr. Loria, now in Egypt.""Ah, yes, I have heard Miss Carrington refer to him. He will come home?"

"I do not know. We have cabled of course. Count Charlier, do you remember hearing my aunt say, last evening, that she expected something to happen to her?"

"I remember, Miss Stuart."

"Have you any idea what she meant?"

"I? But how could I know?"

"Answer my question, please."

The Count's eyes fell, and he shifted his feet about uneasily. At last he said: "It is not pleasant to say such things, but since you ask, I may be permitted to assume that the late Miss Carrington had a regard for my humble self."

"And she expected, she--hoped that her regard might be returned?"

"It may be so."

"And that last night you might tell her so?"

"You honor me."

"Did you tell her so?"

"I did not, Miss Stuart. What might have happened had she lived I cannot say, but I did not, last evening, say any word to Miss Carrington of my aspiration to her hand."

"Did you say anything that could have been taken as a hint that some time, say, in the near future, you might express such an aspiration?"

"I may have done so."

"Thank you, Count Charlier. I had perhaps no right to ask, but you have answered my rather impertinent questions straightforwardly, and I thank you."

Pauline rose, as if to end the interview. In the doorway appeared Anita.

"Pauline," she said, "I wish you would come back and listen to Mrs. Frothingham's story. It seems to me of decided importance."

"You have something to tell me?" asked Pauline, returning to the library and looking at the unwelcome neighbor with patient tolerance.

"Yes, Miss Stuart. 

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