“Yes, so I see. Poor Dolly! It seems rather strange to find her here, so far from all her friends! And the things you have told me.”
After a pause Mrs. Haybrow said decidedly: “I must call upon her to-morrow—No, I’ll go and see her at once. There will be plenty of time before dinner, won’t there? There’s something mysterious about this, and I must find out what it is.”
So, when she had had a cup of tea, Mrs. Haybrow went straight to “The Towers.”
She remained there a long time, so long that Mrs. Rose wondered what the ladies could have to say to each other. And when at last Mabin, who was watching at the drawing-room window for her return, called out that she was coming up the garden, the girl added: “Oh, mamma, how pale she looks!”
“She is tired, no doubt,” said Mrs. Rose, as she left the room to meet her friend as the latter came in.
But she also was surprised to see how white Mrs. Haybrow had grown.
“You should have waited until after dinner. You look quite worn out,” she said. “Well, and what had your friend got to say to you?”
Mrs. Haybrow paused, as if too much exhausted to answer at once. Then she said quietly:
“I was mistaken. She was not my friend after all.”
“Not your friend! Dear me! You were so long gone that we were quite sure she was.”