"Why is it covered in that way? To keep the dust from it?"
The housekeeper hesitated for a moment; then she said:
"The old Squire, my lady, put that on when she left, and it has never been taken off since."
"Then take it off at once," demanded Katherine Earle, in a tone that astonished Morris.
The housekeeper, who was too dignified to take down the covering herself, went to find the servant, but Miss Earle, with a gesture of impatience, grasped the cloth and tore it from its place, reveal ing the full-length portrait of a young lady.
Morris looked at the portrait in astonishment, and then at the girl by his side.
"Why, Katherine," he cried, "it is your picture!"
The young lady was standing with her hands tightly clenched and her lips quivering with nervous excitement. There were tears in her eyes, and she did not answer her lover for a moment; then she said:
"No, it is not my picture. This is a portrait of my mother."
