"You had better call it a fatality. I had started to look
for you in quite the wrong direction, and fell in with that queer
fellow, Fanning. Came down here with him, as you know."

"Did Mr Fanning talk about--er--tell you about--me?" she said
hesitatingly.

Maurice Sellon was not the man to betray poor Renshaw's involuntary and
delirious confidences, even to Violet herself--at least, not unless some
strong motive existed for doing so, which at present was not the case.
So he answered--

"Talk about you? Not he! He's much too deep a dog. He just barely
mentioned that you were here, which drove me pretty well wild, for it
was long enough before I could get him to make a start, and of course I
couldn't let him suspect the reason."

Strict veracity was not one of Sellon's strong points. He did not
choose to let her into the fact that the wild surprise of their meeting
in the hall on the occasion of his arrival was absolutely and
impartially mutual.

"But look here, Violet," he went on. "Talking of Fanning, you were
almost--well, carrying on with him last night. I began to get quite
angry. You mustn't make a fool of the poor chap--if you haven't
already, that's to say."

Violet laughed--her old, heartless, mocking laugh.

"Fancy being jealous of Mr Fanning!" she said scornfully.

"That be hanged!" cried Maurice, gaily, "But, darling, I grudge seeing
you talking too much to any one."

Thus, womanlike, secure in the possession of her own heart's desire, she
spoke contemptuously of one for whom she really entertained a great and
deep-laid respect. Her own love, outside its special object, had not
availed to render her more considerate, more tender, towards the man
whose heart she had made a plaything of.

Returning through the garden they came upon Renshaw himself, who, with
Marian and Effie, was strolling around. Now, the latter, for all her
tender years, knew quite as much as was good for her, and in the present
instance was prompt to recognise a case of "spoons," as her abominably
precocious young mind did not hesitate to define it. It happened that
she disliked Violet, so she fixed her eyes maliciously upon the pair,
and her mouth expanded into a knowing grin--which made Violet ardently
desire to box her ears soundly there and then--and resolved to store up
the incident for future use; in fact, to improve upon the discovery.

"Hallo, Fanning," cried Sellon, as they met, "you're looking rather
see