d again
from all possible aspects. And again and again the determination to
adhere to the decision which duty had marked out so clearly seemed to
beat itself deeper and deeper into his brain.

The taint of alcoholism was in his blood, and matrimony and parentage
were not for him. In the morning he would go straight to Enid's father
and admit that, although ties reaching back into her childhood and his
had to be broken, yet it was impossible for the engagement between him
and Enid to be continued.

The night passed, and the park gates were again opened, but still Vane
sat on, until, noticing the suspicious glances of some of the early
pedestrians, he decided to get home, have a tub, and pay his fateful
visit to Sir Godfrey Raleigh.

As it happened, however, that visit was never to be paid. Enid had found
her waking thoughts unpleasant, if not almost intolerable, and, being
too perfectly healthy to indulge in anything of the nature of moping or
sulks, she came to the conclusion that a good sharp spin on her bicycle
would be the best mental tonic she could have; so she got a cup of
coffee and a biscuit, took out her machine, and started away to work
off, as she hoped, the presentiment of coming trouble which seemed to
have fastened itself upon her.

Thus it happened that she entered Richmond Park by Sheen Gate just as
Vane, physically weary yet still mentally sleepless, was coming out of
it.

During his night's vigil he had nerved himself, as he thought, to meet
every imaginable trial but this one--this vision of his well-beloved,
not waiting for him, but coming to him fresh and radiant in her young
beauty, delightful and desirable, tempting almost beyond the powers of
human resistance, and his, too, his own sweetheart, pledged to him ever
since that memorable afternoon when he had fought for her and won her
behind the wheelhouse in the midst of the Indian Ocean.

When her wonder had given way to complete recognition Enid dismounted
and waited, naturally expecting that he would greet her; but he stood
silent, looking at her as though he were trying to find some words of
salutation.

"Well, Vane," she said at last, "I suppose we may shake hands. I did not
expect to see you here. Cannot you look a little more cheerful? What is
the matter? You look as if you hadn't been home all night."

He took her hand mechanically, and, as he held it and looked down into
the sweet upturned face with a bright flush on the cheeks a