s look dim and
shabby. Hunting was over, and Colonel Ormonde found himself by the will
of his wife, once more established in London lodgings--of a dingier and
obscurer order than those in which they had enjoyed last season.

Mrs. Ormonde was neither intellectually nor morally strong, but she had
one reflex ingredient in her nature, which was to her both a shield and
spear. She knew what she wanted, and was perfectly unscrupulous as to
the means of getting it. A woman who is pleasantly indifferent to the
wants and wishes of her associates, if they happen to clash with her
own, is tolerably sure to have her own way on the whole. Now and then,
to be sure, she comes to grief; but in her general success these
failures can be afforded.

When first the tidings of George Liddell's return and his assertion of
his rights reached her, she was terrified and undone by Colonel
Ormonde's fury against Katherine, herself, her boys, every one. In
short, that gallant officer thought he had done a generous and manly
thing, when he married the piquant little widow who had attracted him,
although she could only meet her personal expenses and those of her two
sons, without contributing to the general house-keeping. This sense of
his own magnanimity, backed by the consciousness that it did not cost
him too dear, had kept Colonel Ormonde in the happiest of moods for the
first years of his married life. Terrible was the awakening from the
dream of his own good luck and general "fine-fellowism"; and heavily
would the punishment have fallen on his wife had she been a sensitive or
high-minded woman. Being, however, admirably suited to the partner of
her life, she looked round, as soon as the first burst of despair was
over, to see how she could make the best of her position.

She was really vexed and irritated to find how little tenderness or
regard her husband felt for her, for she had always believed that he was
greatly devoted to her. To both of them the outside world was all in
all, and on this Mrs. Ormonde counted largely. Colonel Ormonde could not
put her away or lock her up because the provision made by Katherine for
the boys failed her, so while she was mistress of Castleford she must
have dresses and carriages and consideration. Knowing herself secure on
these points, she fearlessly adopted the system of counter-irritation
she described to Katherine; and to do her justice, her consciousness
that the boys were safe under the care of their