Oh, Bertha knew her man--she knew just what to tell him!" In this strain Mrs.Trenor continued for nearly an hour to admonish her friend.

Miss Bart listened with admirable equanimity.

Her naturally good temper had been disciplined by years of enforced compliance, since she had almost always had to attain her ends by the circuitous path of other people's; and, being naturally inclined to face unpleasant facts as soon as they presented themselves, she was not sorry to hear an impartial statement of what her folly was likely to cost, the more so as her own thoughts were still insisting on the other side of the case.

Presented in the light of Mrs.Trenor's vigorous comments, the reckoning was certainly a formidable one, and Lily, as she listened, found herself gradually reverting to her friend's view of the situation.

Mrs.Trenor's words were moreover emphasized for her hearer by anxieties which she herself could scarcely guess.