Later.

.

I've tackled Susan.

I've tackled Susan.

She didn't make it too easy. While she was brushing my hair, I said abruptly, but quite cordially:

She didn't make it too easy. While she was brushing my hair, I said abruptly, but quite cordially:

"By the way, Susan, I sha'n't go to Sainte Véronique to-night. Gibson's gone to the village with a telegram. I've told Monsieur Dupoirier to meet me on Monday."

"By the way, Susan, I sha'n't go to Sainte Véronique to-night. Gibson's gone to the village with a telegram. I've told Monsieur Dupoirier to meet me on Monday."

By peeping through my hair I could see Susan's face in the glass, although she couldn't see mine.

By peeping through my hair I could see Susan's face in the glass, although she couldn't see mine.

"Very well, Miss Gertrude," Susan answered.

"Very well, Miss Gertrude," Susan answered.

She called me "Miss Gertrude" in precisely the tone she has always used ever since she first came to Traxelby, before Alice was married and when Grandmamma was still alive; and she went on brushing my hair without a pause. But I noticed that her cheeks, reflected in the glass, first paled and then flamed. I flung my hair from my eyes and looked up at Susan without ado.

She called me "Miss Gertrude" in precisely the tone she has always used ever since she first came to Traxelby, before Alice was married and when Grandmamma was still alive; and she went on brushing my hair without a pause. But I noticed that her cheeks, reflected in the glass, first paled and then flamed. I flung my hair from my eyes and looked up at Susan without ado.

"Susan," I said, "you are unhappy about something. You ought to have told me. Perhaps I could have helped you. In any case I would have been less exacting in my wants and less sharp in my complaints."

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