An Old Maids Vengeance

hand, for this was done with a controlled gentleness that made the atmosphere seem tense with subdued passion. "Take that chair, Alicia," she said, pointing to one in a distant corner. " I have opened the window; the night is frosty, you must not sit in a draught." Her voice was colorless and cold, so different in tone from its usual sweet, rich cadences, that Mrs. Carme scanned her face closely, alarmed by the change. The girl's expression was set and hard, her mouth so firmly closed that it was difficult to realize that the drawn lips could curve in happy smiles. Her eyes were cast down, and Mrs. Carme, thus denied the reading of their bluedepths, looked keenly about the room, seeking for the proof of what she had already divined. Upon the table lay a little heap of letters and photographs. Then she saw that one of Elinor's white hands was balled into a fist, and she guessed what it held. Wasting no words, Mrs. Carme pointed toward the letters on the table: "Maynard Bertram?" she asked. Elinor bowed gravely. It was as if she could not speak, but she lifted her large eyes and looked fully at her questioner. Then unclosing her firmly clinched hand she disclosed a crumpled note, and holding it toward Mrs. Carme found her voice. "The first stone," she said, and, so saying, began to smooth out the letter. "The ante-mortem statement of a weakling," was Mrs. Carme's quiet comment. "I may read it, Nelly ?" "Then you guess the contents ?" cried the g...