"Miss  Blair  wishes  me  to  ask  if  you  will  not  drink  this
instead  of  the  other,  which  she  fears  is  not  quite  satis
factory,"  the  maid  said,  in  an  odd,  acquired  tone  and
manner  of  ladyism,  as  if  she  were  repeating  a  lesson,
yet  there  seemed  nothing  artificial  about  it.  She  re
garded  Maria  with  a  respectful  air.  Maria  looked  across
at  the  dwarf  woman,  who  was  looking  at  her  with  kindly
eyes  which  yet  seemed  aloof,  and  a  half-sardonic,  half-
pleasant  smile."

Maria  thanked  her  and  took  the  tea,  which  was  excel
lent,  and  refreshed  her.  The  maid  returned  to  her  seat,
facing  her  mistress.  They  had  finished  their  luncheon.
She  leaned  back  in  her  chair  with  a  blank  expression  of
face.  The  dwarf  looked  out  of  the  window,  and  that
same  half-pleasant,  half-sardonic  smile  remained  upon
her  face.  It  was  as  if  she  regarded  all  nature  with
amused  acquiescence  and  sarcasm,  at  its  inability  to
harm  her,  although  it  had  made  the  endeavor.
Maria  glanced  at  her  very  rich  black  attire,  and  a
great  pearl  cross  which  gleamed  at  her  throat,  and  she
wondered  a  little  about  her.  Then  she  turned  again
to  the  flying  landscape,  and  again  that  sense  of  unnat
ural  peace  came  over  her.  She  did  not  think  of  Evelyn
and  Wollaston,  or  her  aunts  and  uncle,  whom  she  was
leaving,  except  with  the  merest  glance  of  thought.  It
was  as  if  she  were  already  in  another  world.
