"Loved me! Lois, you are dreaming." But as she said it, Alice's heart was beating. "Yes, he was talking to me one evening, and he began to tell me of his love for a girl,--a young girl,--and what a part it had played in his life--" "But I was married," put in Mrs. Lancaster, seeking for further proof rather than renouncing this. "Yes, he said she did not care for him; but he had always striven to keep her image in his heart--her image as she was when he knew her and as he imagined her." Mrs. Lancaster's face for a moment was a study. "Do you know whom he is in love with now?" she said presently. "Yes; with you." "No--not with me; with you." She put her hand on Lois's cheek caressingly, and gazed into her eyes. The girl's eyes sank into her lap. Her face, which had been growing white and pink by turns, suddenly flamed. "Mrs. Lancaster, I believe I--" she began in low tones. She raised her eyes, and they met for a moment Mrs. Lancaster's. Something in their depths, some look of sympathy, of almost maternal kindness, struck her, passed through to her long-stilled heart. With a little cry she threw herself into the other's arms and buried her burning face in her lap. The expression on the face of the young widow changed. She glanced down for a moment at the little head in her lap, then bending down, she buried her face in the brown tresses, and drew her form close to her heart. In a moment the young girl was pouring out her soul to her as if she had been her daughter. The expression in Alice Lancaster's eyes was softer than it had been for a long time, for it was the light of self-sacrifice that shone in them. "You have your happiness in your hands," she said tenderly. Lois looked up with dissent in her eyes. Mrs. Lancaster shook her head. "No. He will never be in love with me again." The girl gave a quick intaking of her breath, her hand clutching at her throat. "Oh, Mrs. Lancaster!" She was thinking aloud rather than speaking. "I thought that you cared for him." Alice Lancaster shook her head. She tried to meet frankly the other's eyes, but as they gazed deep into hers with an inquiry not to be put aside, hers failed and fell. "No," she said, but it was with a gasp. Lois's eyes opened wide, and her face changed. "Oh!" she murmured, as the sense of what she had done swept over her. She rose to her feet and, bending down, kissed Mrs. Lancaster tenderly. One might have thought she was the elder of the two.