And into what hands Bertha Dorset's secret had been delivered! For a moment the irony of the coincidence tinged Lily's disgust with a confused sense of triumph.

But the disgust prevailed--all her instinctive resistances, of taste, of training, of blind inherited scruples, rose against the other feeling.

Her strongest sense was one of personal contamination.
She moved away, as though to put as much distance as possible between herself and her visitor.

"I know nothing of these letters," she said; "I have no idea why you have brought them here." Mrs.Haffen faced her steadily.

"I'll tell you why, Miss.