Aiken, going back into the drawing-room after see-
ing her cousin off.
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CHAPTER Vin

HOW llBa. BUPHBllIA AIEEN FVDND UADELIRE AT HOICB, WHO
CONSBqUKKTLir DID NOT 00 TO A BUN.WOBBY. BUT BHB HAD
HIT MISB BAX. HOW THEHB lADlES EACH CONFESSED TO
DOanSM, OF A SORT, AND UAtteUSE SAID MAKE IT OF.
HOW KB. AIKKK TOOK UR. TICK'S ADVICE ABOUT DIAHA, BUT
COULD NOT FIND UIB TBANSPABKNT OXIDB OF CHBOWUII.
UAN AT HI8 LOBELIEBT. NO TEA. AND WHAT A JUOOINS

HK HAD BEEN I OF MBS. gaff's difbomania. the Bora.
HOW MB. AIKEN LIT THE 0A8, AND UBABD A CAB. HOW HE
NEABLT KISSED MADELINE, WHO BAD BBOUOHT HIB WIFB
HOME, BUT IT WAB ONLT A MISTAKE, OLOBT BE! WAS THEBK
SOAP IN THE BOUSEl

Mbs. Aiken tortured her speculating powers for
awhile with endeavours to put this curious event on
an intelligible footing, and was before long in a
poBition to " dismiss it from her mind " ; or, if not
quite that, to give It a month's notice. It certainly
seemed much lees true on the second day after it
happened than on the first; and, at that rate, in a
twelvemonth it would never have happened at all.
