They asked if she weren't under some sort of strain."
"Well, is she? Does anything trouble her?"
"Not that I know of. Anyhow, if there is anything, none of us can find
out what it is."
Kate frowned. She threw a quick look into her brother's face.
"William," she began hesitatingly, "forgive me, but--Billy is quite
happy in--her engagement, I suppose."
The man flushed painfully, and sighed.
"I've thought of that, of course. In fact, it was the first thing I
did think of. I even began to watch her rather closely, and once
I--questioned her a little."
"What did she say?"
"She seemed so frightened and distressed that I didn't say much myself.
I couldn't. I had but just begun when her eyes filled with tears, and
she asked me in a frightened little voice if she had done anything to
displease me, anything to make me unhappy; and she seemed so anxious
and grieved and dismayed that I should even question her, that I had to
stop."
"What has she done this summer? Where has she been?"
"She hasn't been anywhere. Didn't I write you? She's kept open house for
a lot of her less fortunate friends--a sort of vacation home, you know;
and--and I must say she's given them a world of happiness, too."
"But wasn't that hard for her?"
"It didn't seem to be. She appeared to enjoy it immensely, particularly
at first.
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