ated. And then, as the full meaning of the
question came to her; the colour flooded into her face, and she would
have fled, if she could, bud Euphrasia's words came in a torrent.

"You've made him unhappy, as well as Hilary. He loves you--but he
wouldn't speak of it to you. Oh, no, he didn't tell me who it was, but I
never rested till I found out. He never would have told me about it at
all, or anybody else, but that I guessed it. I saw he was unhappy, and I
calculated it wasn't Hilary alone made him so. One night he came in here,
and I knew all at once--somehow--there was a woman to blame, and I asked
him, and he couldn't lie to me. He said it wasn't anybody's fault but his
own--he wouldn't say any more than that, except that he hadn't spoken to
her. I always expected the time was coming when there would be--a woman.
And I never thought the woman lived that he'd love who wouldn't love him.
I can't see how any woman could help lovin' him.

"And then I found out it was that railroad. It came between Sarah Austen
and her happiness, and now it's come between Austen and his. Perhaps you
don't love him!" cried Euphrasia. "Perhaps you're too rich and high and
mighty. Perhaps you're a-going to marry that fine young man who came with
you in the buggy. Since I heard who you was, I haven't had a happy hour.
Let me tell you there's no better blood in the land than the Austen
blood. I won't mention the Vanes. If you've led him on, if you've
deceived him, I hope you may be unhappy as Sarah Austen was--"

"Don't!" pleaded Victoria; "don't! Please don't!" and she seized
Euphrasia by the arms, as though seeking by physical force to stop the
intolerable flow of words. "Oh, you don't know me; you can't understand
me if you say that. How can you be so cruel?"

In another moment she had gone, leaving Euphrasia standing in the middle
of the floor, staring after her through the doorway.

CHAPTER XXVI

THE FOCUS OF WRATH

Victoria, after leaving Euphrasia, made her way around the house towards
Mr. Rangely, who was waiting in the runabout, her one desire for the
moment being to escape. Before she had reached the sidewalk under the
trees, Dr. Tredway had interrupted her.

"Miss Flint," he called out, "I wanted to say a word to you before you
went."

"Yes," she said, stopping and turning to him.

He paused a moment before speaking, as he looked into her face.

"I don't wonder this has upset you a little," he said; "a reaction a