"Do you like St. Anne's?" he asked quickly. "Have you made friends here?"
"We have no friends," said Juliet, with emphasis; "but my mother and I are happy in our little home. We do not desire society."
He saw that he was intensifying her bitter emotions. Could he do nothing to comfort her?
"Have you been introduced to Lady Ernestine Whitehouse?" he asked.
"I have not," Juliet replied, with the slightest upward movement of the head. "I was not deemed worthy of that honour."
The next minute Mr. Mainprice was hastening across the room to where Lady Ernestine stood, near the door, saying a few words to Mrs. Staines ere she took her departure.
"Can you spare me five minutes?" he asked, addressing her with the confidence of a friend. "I have unexpectedly found a friend here, whom I should be glad to introduce to you."
"What! That charming girl at the flower stall?" asked Lady Ernestine, who had observed him talking with Juliet. "I shall be delighted to make her acquaintance."
As they walked up the room together, he had time to give her a hurried explanation of Juliet's miserable position. Lady Ernestine esteemed him so highly that it was enough for her that he wished to befriend this girl. Presently all eyes that cared to turn in that direction saw Lady Ernestine chatting in the pleasantest manner with the vendor of flowers.
"You must really come and see us at the Priory, Miss Tracy," she was saying. "I understand that you know Miss Mainprice. Could you come to us on Friday afternoon? We have invited a few friends to an informal garden-party, and Miss Mainprice has promised to tell us something of her work in Paris. Now don't decline till you have thought more of it," she protested, as Juliet, taken by surprise, and shrinking from the visit proposed, though conscious of the kindness which prompted the invitation, tried to falter out an excuse. "We can send a carriage for you, and I hope your mother will be well enough to accompany you. I will send her a card, trusting she will excuse the brief notice."