“Excuse me,” she said, in a politely distant tone. “Don’t pretend--” he began again with a curious insistance in his voice; and then he stopped, putting his hand heavily on the back of a chair near him and looking at Miss Minot and the girl standing beside her. An agony of apprehension took hold upon him. The girl made a little gesture of surprise and turned proudly and indifferently to Miss Minot. “I don’t think I understand,” she said quietly to her. The nonplussed, vacant look on her face made Cahill hesitate. He looked fixedly at her. The red had left his face now and it showed a strange pallor. He was just conscious of the cold, astonished look on Miss Minot’s face, and that his sister was staring blankly at him. He pulled himself together sharply. “I beg your pardon,” he said, with slow difficulty. “I have made a stupid mistake--I thought--” he stopped and drew a sharp breath. The girl’s eyes met his steadily for a moment, and then she smiled again slightly. “Oh, certainly,” she said, easily. “I have reminded so many people of so many other people that I am getting quite used to it! Resemblances are so often deceiving.” Cahill looked at her in a curiously relieved way. “And here we are, standing talking,” she ran on, “while the children are waiting to sing! They have learned some very pretty Easter hymns. You shall hear them.” She spoke rapidly and directly to Cahill as though she wished to prevent him from talking, and her voice sounded strained and monotonous. She went over to the piano quickly and seated herself, and presently, when the children had got through their songs, she began to sing alone, and that evening both Miss Minot and Miss Cahill agreed enthusiastically that she had never sung like that before, and that if the director of the Grand Opera had heard her he would have signed a contract with her on the spot. Miss Minot was rather disappointed that Cahill did not seem more impressed. “I don’t believe you enjoyed it half as much as I thought you would,” she said, reproachfully to him. It was late, and they were just leaving the drawing-room, but he had held her back for an instant while the others passed on into the big hall. “And isn’t she lovely and a great artist?” she insisted.