"I wonder if you have something to tell me that I should know in justice to you?"
"You should have thought of that first, Father. It is too late now."
"We may"—the man's recent manner fell from him like an unnecessary garment—"be friends, still?"
Again Jo laughed. She felt that she had by some kindly power regained something of her lost position with this lonely old man. Since he could not understand her, save her, he was willing to accept her.
"Father, I have too few friends to cast them off heedlessly."
And then she went out, more of a mystery than ever to Mantelle.
CHAPTER IX
WOMAN AND WOMAN
It was early June when Mam'selle heard that the Walled House, the country place of some rich people from the States, was to be opened.
It had been closed for many years, but recently the master had died and his wife, with a staff of servants and an old, blind, white-haired man, had returned.