the pansies, touching her lips to their coolness hungrily. Oh, why did evil and suspicion and sin have to come in and spoil a world that would otherwise be bright? She would not, would not believe or entertain the slightest suspicion against Graham Copeland. They had made a compact of trust and friendship, and she would abide by her own intuition. Yes, and by Aunt Pat’s judgment also.
And so when Gemmie entered, Sherrill was bending over her flowers, touching them delicately with her fingertips, lifting a pansy’s chin lightly to look better into its face, and smiling into their cheerful little faces with a whimsical fancy that some were grinning just as their donor had done.
But Gemmie wore an offended air all that day, and went about poking into corners everywhere trying to find that necklace.
“I don’t see why Miss Patricia won’t have the police up here!” she declared. “I shan’t be happy till that necklace is found! Who was that girl anyway, that bride? Did you ever see her before? Seems to me this is the strangest doings that ever was had about this house. I don’t understand it myself. We never had doings around here that was out of the ordinary before. I mus’ say I don’t like it myself. Did you know that girl, Miss Sherrill?”
“Oh yes, Gemmie,” said Sherrill, summoning a brave tone. “She was an old friend of Mr. McArthur’s. In fact, they had been sort of engaged for several years, and—then—well, they got separated….”
Sherrill’s voice trailed off vaguely. She knew she was treading on very thin ice. How was she to make this all quite plausible to this sharp-eyed, jealous servant who loved her because she belonged to her beloved Miss Patricia, and yet not tell all the startling facts?
“You see, Gemmie,” she went on bravely, taking up the tale and thinking fast, “she came just after you left with a message for Mr. McArthur, and I happened to find out about it, so we had a little talk and fixed it up this way. It was rather quick work getting us dressed all over again, but I think we got by pretty well, don’t you?” Sherrill finished with a little light laugh that sounded very natural, and Gemmie eyed her suspiciously.
“I ought to have stayed here!” she declared firmly. “I knew I oughtn’t to’ve gone when I went. That was your wedding dress, not hers, and she had no business with it!”
“Oh, that!” laughed Sherrill cheerfully. “What did that matter? You see, she didn’t happen to have her own things with her, so we fixed it up that way, and I thought everything came off very well. She looked sweet, didn’t she?”
“I didn’t take notice to her,” said Gemmie sourly. “When I saw it wasn’t you, I was that put out I could hardly keep my seat. I didn’t think you’d be up to any tricks like that, Miss Sherrill, or I wouldn’t have left you. If I’d have been here, I’d not have let her by having your wedding dress, not if she never got married. And your wedding, too. It was a shame!”
“Oh no, Gemmie, it was lovely! Because you see, when I found out a few things, I didn’t want to get married myself just then, so it turned out quite all right. I wouldn’t want to marry a man who loved another woman, would you, Gemmie?”
“I wouldn’t want to marry any man that lives!” sniffed Gemmie. “They’re all a selfish, deceiving lot. Not one good enough for a good girl like you.”
“There you are, Gemmie! You think that and yet you are angry that I let another girl marry him!”
“Well, he was yours by rights after he’d went that far!” sniffed Gemmie, getting out her primly folded handkerchief and dabbing at her eyes.
“Well, I didn’t happen to want him when I found he really belonged to another girl,” said Sherrill soberly, and she wished that her heart didn’t give such a sick plunge when she said the words. They were true, of course, and yet her soul was crying out for the lover she had thought she had, though she didn’t intend that this sharp-eyed woman should find it out. “And now, Gemmie, keep it all to yourself and let’s forget about it. I’m back here to stay awhile, and I’m going to have the best time a girl can have. Do you happen to know where that little pale green knit dress of mine is, with the white