But Ethie could not then have touched a note.

The faintest tone of that instrument would have maddened her and she turned away from it with a shudder, while the rather talkative Mrs.Dobson continued: "It's an old piano, I believe, that belonged to the first Mrs.Markham.

There's to be a new one bought for the other Mrs.Markham, I heard them say." Ethie's hands were tightly locked together now, and her teeth shut so tightly over her lips that the thin skin was broken, and a drop of blood showed upon the pale surface; but in so doing she kept back a cry of anguish which leaped up from her heart at Mrs.Dobson's words.

The "first Mrs.Markham," that was herself, while the "other Mrs.Markham" meant, of course, her rival--the bride about whom she had heard at Clifton.

She did not think of Melinda as being a part of that household, "and the other Mrs.Markham," for whom the new piano was to be purchased--she thought of nothing but herself, and her own blighted hopes.
"Does the governor know for certain that his first wife is dead ?" she asked, at last, and Mrs.Dobson replied: "He believes so, yes.