custom to remain there some half-hour before she went to bed, doing little things for her mother, and chatting with any other girl who might be intimate enough to be admitted there. Now she might remain there for an hour alone without danger of being disturbed; and she thought to herself that she would remain there till her mother came, and then unburthen herself of the whole story.
As she went along the corridor she would have to pass the room which had been given up to Felix Graham. She saw that the door was ajar, and as she came close up to it, she found the nurse in the act of coming out from the room. Mrs. Baker had been a very old servant in the judge's family, and had known Madeline from the day of her birth. Her chief occupation for some years had been nursing when there was anybody to nurse, and taking a general care and surveillance of the family's health when there was no special invalid to whom she could devote herself. Since Graham's accident she had been fully employed, and had greatly enjoyed the opportunities it had given her.
Mrs. Baker was in the doorway as Madeline attempted to pass by on tiptoe. 'Oh, he's a deal better now, Miss Madeline, so that you needn't be afeard of disturbing;—ain't you, Mr. Graham?' So she was thus brought into absolute contact with her friend, for the first time since he had hurt himself.
'Indeed I am,' said Felix; 'I only wish they'd let me get up and go down stairs. Is that Miss Staveley, Mrs. Baker?'
'Yes, sure. Come, my dear, he's got his dressing-gown on, and you may just come to the door and ask him how he does.'
'I am very glad to hear that you are so much better, Mr. Graham,' said Madeline, standing in the doorway with averted eyes, and speaking with a voice so low that it only just reached his ears.
'Thank you, Miss Staveley; I shall never know how to express what I feel for you all.'
'And there's none of 'em have been more anxious about you than she, I can tell you; and none of 'em aint kinderhearteder,' said Mrs. Baker.
'I hope you will be up soon and be able to come down to the drawing-room,' said Madeline. And then she did glance round, and for a moment saw the light of his eye as he sat upright in the bed. He was still pale and thin, or at least she fancied so, and her heart trembled within her as she thought of the danger he had passed.
'I do so long to be able to talk to you again; all the others come and visit me, but I have only heard the sounds of your footsteps as you pass by.'
'And yet she always walks like a mouse,' said Mrs. Baker.
'But I have always heard them,' he said. 'I hope Marian
