MRS.

TALBOT GIVES HER LITTLE DINNER PARTY, AND MR.

BELCHER MAKES AN EXCEEDINGLY PLEASANT ACQUAINTANCE.
Mrs.Talbot had a very dear friend.

She had been her dear friend ever since the two had roomed together at boarding-school.

Sometimes she had questioned whether in reality Mrs.Helen Dillingham was her dear friend, or whether the particular friendship was all on the other side; but Mrs.
Dillingham had somehow so manipulated the relation as always to appear to be the favored party.