“He might be, if he should hear it, that’s a fact. Then you’re her companion. I remember now hearing that she took a sudden shine to a young woman who met with an accident, and would have her stay with her. You’re mighty lucky about getting into fine places, it seems to me.” A curl of those beautiful red lips was all the satisfaction she received from this insulting speech, and then Brownie made as if she would have passed on. “Wait,” commanded Isabel, peremptorily, and laying her hand upon the young girl’s shoulder. She was inwardly boiling with rage that she could not move or browbeat the haughty governess. “Wait,” she repeated; “I have not done with you yet.” “Please remove your hand from my shoulder, Miss Coolidge,” Brownie commanded, in tones that she dare not disobey. “Mr. Dredmond called upon you at our house the day you left; he said he had something belonging to you which he came to return,” she went on, as her hand fell by her side, and dropping her eyes before the other’s indignant gaze. She was very curious about the object of that visit. “I know it,” replied Brownie, much amused, as she saw that Isabel was almost afraid of her in her haughty pride. “You know it? How?” “Yes, and I have my property back again,” and she deftly shifted her cuff, bringing the glittering button upon the upper side of her sleeve. Miss Coolidge started slightly on beholding the elegant trifle. “Ah, that was it, then? It is very elegant, isn’t it? I presume it belongs with the collection we have in our possession,” she said, spitefully. “It does, Miss Coolidge, and I will thank you to return my property.” “When you prove it is yours, I will.” “These buttons are marked with my name on the back.” “That may be; you have had plenty of time, doubtless, to get them marked,” sneered Isabel. “I shall compel you to return that casket to me,” retorted Brownie, with flashing eyes. “Ha, ha! Perhaps you will, and then again perhaps you won’t. But we have discussed that subject sufficiently in the past. When did you see Mr. Dredmond?” Isabel asked, insolently, and noting how exquisitely lovely Brownie had grown since she saw her last. “Really, Miss Coolidge, if I remain here longer I shall lose my walk, and that I cannot afford to do.” With which tantalizing remark, Brownie, her figure proudly erect, moved down the corridor, leaving her interlocutor beautifully in the dark as to how or when she had seen Mr. Dredmond. “I suppose you thought by coming down here you’d have a better chance to practice your wiles upon that young gentleman; but, mark my words, you won’t succeed, for I shall feel it my duty to inform Lady Randal of the very suspicious character which she is harboring,” hissed the irate girl after her. She might just as well have talked to the winds, for Miss Douglas never gave a sign that she heard. As Brownie passed Isabel’s room again, a few hours later, she saw that the door was open.