CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE.
Margaret soon went to her own apartment and changed her damp garments, and then she went down stairs to the echoing reception-room, to wait for Lady Juliana Ducie.
At last came the sound of carriage wheels, the great door was opened, and a gentle stir ensued in the lower hall.
Margaret rang the bell, and waited in feverish suspense to hear the issue.
"Who has arrived?" she asked, as the housekeeper appeared, arrayed in stiff black satin.
"The lady you were expecting, miss, I take it, with a lady's maid and groom. She has gone up to her room, and told me to tell Miss Walsingham she would appear in half an hour."
It was ten minutes to seven when the visitor, having partaken of a hearty dinner in her own room, and gone through the intricacies of a super-elegant toilet, with the assistance of her maid, came down to the reception-room, and was met with outstretched hands by placable Margaret.
"How kind of you to come to me!" she breathed, "and to prove a ready friend."
The lissome figure approached—beautiful, radiant as ever—and, tripping quite up to Margaret, she took her pale hand and pressed it graciously.
"Are we friends?" she queried, with her head a little drooped on one side, and eyes raised inquiringly. "Are you going to forget my naughty petulance? Papa and I have been so angry at ourselves that we let you go."