over the floor, chairs, dressing-table, and bed. Isobel possessed a
gold-mounted dressing-case the size of an ordinary portmanteau. It held
an assortment of pretty, and mostly useless, knick-knacks, and they had
all been tumbled out
in a frantic hurry. At first Elsie flinched from
further scrutiny, but common sense told her that this despondent mood
must be fought. She dropped to her knees,
found a mother-o'-pearl _poudrier_, and picked up other scattered
articles and replaced them in the dressing-case. To accomplish this it
was necessary to rearrange various trays and drawers. Portraits of girl
friends, including her own, and of men unknown
to her, letters, memoranda, and other documents, were thrown about in
disorder. All these she put back in their receptacles, wondering the
while what motive had led Isobel to make such a frenzied search for
some special object that she cared not a jot what became of the
remaining articles. Yet, who
could account for the frenzy of t
