I went
right up to her room to undress her, and when I knocked, sir, a
strange woman came to the door and said that Miss Frances had engaged
her for her maid and wouldn't need me any more, and here was a month's
wages. And while I stood there, sir, too dazed to move, she shut the
door in my face. After I'd got over it a bit, I begged that I might
see Miss Frances, if only to say good-by; but she wouldn't see me. She
sent word that she wasn't feeling well, and wouldn't be disturbed."
Her sobs mastered her again and she stopped. I could see the look of
amazement on our junior's face, and did not wonder at it. What sudden
dislike could her mistress have conceived against this inoffensive and
devoted creature?
"You say this other maid was a stranger?" he asked.
"Yes, sir; she'd never been in the house before, so far as I know.
Miss Frances brought her back with her in the carriage."
"And what sort of looking woman is she?"
The girl hesitated.
"She looked like a foreigner, sir," she said at last. "A Frenchwoman,
maybe, by the way she rolls her r's."
I pricked up my ears. The same thought occurred at that instant to
both Mr. Royce and myself.
"Does she resemble Miss Holladay?" he asked quickly.
"Miss Holladay? Oh, no, sir. She's much older--her hair's quite gray.
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