Her mother, an invalid, was spending the summer months at Clevedon, with Dr.Madden for medical adviser, and in this way the girl became friendly with the Madden household.

Its younger members she treated rather condescendingly; childish things she had long ago put away, and her sole pleasure was in intellectual talk.

With a frankness peculiar to her, indicative of pride, Miss Nunn let it be known that she would have to earn her living, probably as a school teacher; study for examinations occupied most of her day, and her hours of leisure were frequently spent either at the Maddens or with a family named Smithson--people, these latter, for whom she had a profound and somewhat mysterious admiration.

Mr.Smithson, a widower with a consumptive daughter, was a harsh-featured, rough-voiced man of about five-and-thirty, secretly much disliked by Dr.Madden because of his aggressive radicalism; if women's observation could be trusted, Rhoda Nunn had simply fallen in love with him, had made him, perhaps unconsciously, the object of her earliest passion.

Alice and Virginia commented on the fact in their private colloquy with a shamefaced amusement; they feared that it spoke ill for the young lady's breeding.
None the less they thought Rhoda a remarkable person, and listened to her utterances respectfully.
'And what is your latest paradox, Miss Nunn ?' inquired the doctor, with grave facetiousness, when he had looked round the young faces at his board.
'Really, I forget, doctor.