Rising, she drew the curtain carefully to hide the picture, and started toward the door.

She paused.

Going to the easel that held the other picture, she laid her hand upon the curtain.

Again, she paused.

Aaron King had said that she must not look at that picture--Conrad Lagrange had said that she must not--why?
She did not know why.
Perhaps--if the mountain girl had drawn aside the curtain and had looked upon the face of Mrs.Taine as Aaron King had painted it--perhaps the rest of my story would not have happened.
But, true to the wish of her friends, even in her misery, Sibyl Andres held her hand.