There could be, to the purely normal geniality of Emily Walderhurst's nature, no greater relief than the recognition that a cloud had passed from the mood of another. When Hester appeared the next morning at the breakfast-table, she had emerged from her humour of the day before and was almost affectionate in her amiability. The meal at an end, she walked with Emily in the garden. She had never shown such interest in what pertained to her as she revealed this morning. Something she had always before lacked Emily recognised in her for the first time,--a desire to ask friendly questions, to verge on the confidential. They talked long and without reserve. And how pretty it was of the girl, Emily thought, to care so much about her health and her spirits, to be so interested in the details of her every-day life, even in the simple matter of the preparation and serving of her food, as if the merest trifle was of consequence. It had been unfair, too, to fancy that she felt no interest in Walderhurst's absence and return. She had noticed everything closely, and actually thought he ought to come back at once. "Send for him," she said quite suddenly; "send for him now." There was an eagerness expressed in the dark thinness of her face which moved Emily. "It is dear of you to care so much, Hester," she said. "I didn't know you thought it mattered." "He must come," said Hester. "That's all. Send for him." "I wrote a letter yesterday," was Lady Walderhurst's meek rejoinder. "I got nervous." "So did I get nervous," said Hester; "so did I." That she was disturbed Emily could see. The little laugh she ended her words with had an excited ring in it. During the Osborns' stay at Palstrey the two women had naturally seen a good deal of each other, but for the next two days they were scarcely separated at all. Emily, feeling merely cheered and supported by the fact that Hester made herself so excellent a companion, was not aware of two or three things. One was that Mrs. Osborn did not lose sight of her unless at such times as she was in the hands of Jane Cupp. "I may as well make a clean breast of it," the young woman said. "I have a sense of responsibility about you that I haven't liked to speak of before. It's half hysterical, I suppose, but it has got the better of me." "You feel responsible for _me_!" exclaimed Emily, with wondering eyes. "Yes, I do," she almost snapped. "You represent so much. Walderhurst ought to be here. I'm not fit to take care of you." "I ought to be taking care of you," said Emily, with gentle gravity. "I am the older and stronger. You are not nearly so well as I am." Hester startled her by bursting into tears. "Then do as I tell you," she said. "Don't go anywhere alone. Take Jane Cupp with you. You have nearly had two accidents. Make Jane sleep in your dressing-room."