She had lost her husband many years before, and had been left with considerable fortune and no family besides this one brother.

So much information, after repeated and unabashedly point-blank questions, had the Joppites succeeded in extracting from Mr.Halloway, who with all his apparent frankness was the most difficult person in the world ever to be brought to talk of himself and his own affairs.

But just to see Mrs.Whittridge, with her sweet face and perfect manners, was to recognize her at once for a gentlewoman in every sense of the word, while to be in her society, if but for ten minutes, was to come very nearly to loving her.

The Joppites saw but one fault in her; she did not and would not visit.

All who sought her out were made more than welcome; but whether from the extreme delicacy of her health, which rendered visiting a burden, or because of her widow's dress of deepest mourning, which she had never laid aside, it came to be an accepted thing that she went nowhere.