Chapter 44

For the next two days Fan was continually on the tiptoe of expectation,
shortening her walks for fear of missing Mary, and not going to Dawson
Place, and still her friend came not. On the third day she came about
three o'clock in the afternoon, when Fan by chance happened to be out.

Miss Starbrow, on hearing at the door that Miss Eden was not at home,
considered for a few moments, and then sent up her card to Constance, who
was greatly surprised to see it, for Fan had said nothing to make her
expect such a visit. She concluded that it was for Fan, and that Miss
Starbrow wished to wait or leave some message for her. In the sitting-
room they met, Constance slightly nervous and looking pale in her
mourning, and regarded each other with no little curiosity.

"I am sorry Fan is out," said Constance, "but if you do not mind waiting
for her she will perhaps come in soon."

"I shall be glad to see her--she has forsaken me for the last few days.
But I called to-day to see you, Mrs. Chance."

Constance looked surprised. "Thank you, Miss Starbrow, it is very kind of
you," she answered quietly.

There was a slight shadow on the other's face; she had come only to
please Fan, and was not at ease with this woman, who was a stranger to
her, and perhaps resented her visit. Then she remembered that Constance
had become acquainted with Merton Chance only through Fan's having seen
him once at her house, reflecting with a feeling of mingled wonder and
compassion that through so trivial a circumstance this poor girl's life
had been so darkly clouded. They had sat for some moments in silence when
Miss Starbrow, with a softened look in her eyes and in a gentler tone,
spoke again.

"We have met only once before," she said, "and that is a long time ago,
but I have heard so much of you from Fan that I cannot think of you as a
stranger, and the change I see in you reminds me strongly of all you have
suffered since."

"Yes, I suppose I must seem greatly changed," returned the other, not
speaking so coldly as at first. Then, with a searching glance at her
visitor's face, she added, "You knew my husband before I did, Miss
Starbrow."

Ever since her marriage she had been haunted with the thought that there
had been something more than a mere acquaintance between Merton and this
lady. Her husband himself had given her that suspicion by the disparaging
way he had invariably spoken of her, and his desire to know everything
that Fan had said about her. That Fan had never told her anything was no
proof that there was nothing to tell, since the girl was strangely close
about some things.

"Yes," returned Miss