"Miss Burton has so plainly won him," she thought, "that he has
adopted her tactics of looking after those whom every one neglects.
I could soon show him the one he has the greatest power of cheering,
and I know that she has the deepest need of cheer of any one in
this crowded house, but I'd rather die than give one hint of our
first meeting he has humiliated me, and I in return love him! But
he shall never know it. My looks can be as cold as his."
And so they were toward him, but for all others she had had the
gayest smiles and repartee. Vividly conscious of the secret she
would so jealously guard, she sought by every means in her power
to mask it from him and all others. She would even permit her name
for a time to be associated with a man she detested and despised,
since thus the truth could be more effectively concealed.
Sibley's attentions were certainly ardent enough to attract attention,
and occasionally there was a boldness in his compliments, which
she, even in her reckless mood, sharply resented. His eyes seemed
to grow more wolfish every time she encountered them, and more than
once the thought crossed her mind:
"What a heaven it would be to look up into the eyes of a man I
could trust, and who honored me.
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