"Introduce me to Miss Hepworth, won't you?"
Kitty, who had been singing, let her voice drop; her hands came down on the keys with a crash. She saw the change on Gavon's face when he looked at Mollie. Her love for him made her intensely jealous. Was it possible? Oh no, it could not be! She danced up to his side as he came up to Mollie and took her hand.
"We must not be strangers," he said. "We are relations of a sort, are we not?"
"I don't know," replied Mollie. "We are friends at least, I hope."
His eyes seemed to convey a warning as he looked at her. She returned his gaze with a full, frank expression on her face, and he knew at once that he had nothing to fear from her. The magnetic influence which she always carried with her wherever she went affected him strangely, however. He sank down on the nearest chair and began to talk to her. Kitty flitted restlessly about. Gavon did not once glance in her direction. After a time he said,--
"What is the matter with you, Kit? Can't you sit still? I am much interested in what your sister is telling me."
"Tell me too, then, Mollie," said Kitty, and there was a note of sadness and entreaty in her voice.
She slipped into a seat close to Mollie, who put her arm round her waist.
Keith continued to ask eager questions. He was interested in Mollie's experiences as a nurse at the Victoria Hospital, Netley. All of a sudden he seemed to recognize a change in her. Her voice at first had been full of enthusiasm, but when she felt the touch of Kitty's small hand her manner changed--it became formal. She rose after a moment.
"I did not know that I was tired, but I find I am," she said. "Will you excuse me, Aunt Louisa? I should like to go to bed."
"Do, my dear, certainly," replied Mrs. Keith.
"Then, Kit, you must give me another song," said Keith.
His words and request immediately chased away every cloud from her face. She took her seat at the piano, and Mollie went out of the room.
Several months before the events just related, as Mollie Hepworth was returning late to the hospital at Netley, she was arrested by seeing a figure lying by the roadside. Her professional instincts were at once aroused, and she hurried towards it. She bent down, to discover a gentlemanly-looking, well-dressed man. He was breathing heavily, and was evidently quite unconscious.