"I'm sure I don't know that. Alice and I have fancied that Kate might have kept in touch with your father all this time, and that he might be dead now, and not likely to--make trouble." "That is it," Norma agreed, quickly. "Because not long before she came to see Aunt Marianna she _had_ had some sort of news--from Canada, I think. An old friend was dead; I remember it as if it were yesterday." "Then that fits in," Chris said, glad she could talk. "But I can't believe it!" she cried in bewilderment. And suddenly she burst out angrily: "Oh, Chris, is it fair? Is it fair? That one girl, like Leslie, should have so--so much! The name, the inheritance, the husband and position and the friends--and that another, through no fault of hers, should be just--just--a nobody?" She choked, and Christopher made a little protestant sound. "Oh, yes, I am!" she insisted, bitterly. "Not recognized by my own mother--she's _not_ my mother! No mother could----" "Listen, dear," Chris begged, really alarmed by the storm he had raised. "Your grandmother, for reasons of her own, never told Annie there was a baby. It is obvious why she kept silent; it was only kindness--decency. Annie was young, younger than you are, and poor old Aunt Marianna only knew that her child was ill, and had been ill-treated, and most cruelly used. You were brought up safely and happily, with good and loving people----" "The best in the world!" Norma said, through her teeth, fighting tears. "The best in the world. Why, Norma, what a woman they've made you! You--who stand alone among all the girls I know! And then," Chris continued quickly, seeing her a little quieter, "when you are growing up, your aunt brings you to your grandmother, who immediately turns her whole world topsy-turvy to make you welcome! Is there anything so unfair in that? Annie made a terrible mistake, dear----" "And everyone but Annie pays!" Norma interrupted, bitterly. "Norma, she is your mother!" Chris reminded her, in the tone that, coming from him, always instantly affected her. Her eyes fell, and her tone, when she spoke, was softer. "Just bearing a child isn't all motherhood," she said. "No, my dear; I know. And if Annie were ever to guess this, it isn't like her not to face the music, at any cost. But isn't it better as it is, Norma?" The wonderful tone, the wonderful manner, the kindness and sympathy in his eyes! Norma, with one foot on the lowest step, now raised her eyes to his with a sort of childish penitence. "Oh, yes, Chris! But"--her lips trembled--"but if Aunt Kate had only kept me from knowing for ever!" she faltered.