CHAPTER XLV
FACT: RELATED BY FANNY
THE person who now entered the room was Fanny Mere.
But one interest was stirring in the mind of Iris now. "Do you know where your master is?" she asked.
"I saw him go out," the maid replied. "Which way I didn't particularly notice—" She was on the point of adding, "and I didn't particularly care," when she checked herself. "Yesterday and to-day, my lady, things have come to my knowledge which I must not keep to myself," the resolute woman continued. "If a servant may say such a thing without offence, I have never been so truly my mistress's friend as I am now. I beg you to forgive my boldness; there is a reason for it."
So she spoke, with no presumption in her looks, with no familiarity in her manner. The eyes of her friendless mistress filled with
