is too awful to
think of, isn't it? We must do something."

"That's just what I should have expected you to say, Vane," said his
father, "and anything that I can do shall be done. But I'm afraid it
won't be very easy. I did suggest something of the sort, of course, but
she cut me short very quickly. She simply said that she could not
discuss the subject then, and there was an end of it. I am quite certain
that anything which had even a suggestion of charity about it would be
quite out of the question."

"Of course it would," said Vane, almost angrily. "After all, she is my
sister. However, that can wait. Now tell me what you were going to tell
me. How did all this begin? Do you know who the man was, because if so I
want to go and see him?"

"No, I don't, Vane," his father replied, slowly. "To tell you the truth,
I never even attempted to find out. We were living at Simla at the time,
and Simla is, as perhaps you know, not the most moral of places. You
were nearly three years old, and for about a year your mother had shown
signs of what doctors call now Alcoholic Insanity. I shall never forget
the first time that I found her drunk----"

"Never mind that, dad," Vane interrupted, with a sharp catch in his
voice, "I don't want to hear about it, it's bad enough already. Was
Carol right about that light which she used to see in her eyes and which
I suppose you saw in mine last night?"

"Yes, perfectly," replied Sir Arthur. "I used to think it beautiful
once, before I knew what a dreadful meaning it had. When she had had a
glass or so of champagne, her eyes--and they were just like yours and
Carol's--used to light up marvellously. People used to speak of them as
the most beautiful eyes in the East; but afterwards, that light in them
began to burn brighter, and when at last she gave way completely, it
became something horrible, although, somehow, it was still
beautiful--damnably beautiful."

"Well, one night," Sir Arthur went on, leaning back in his chair and
staring into vacancy, "she went out to spend the evening, as she told
me, with a friend; as a matter of fact it was Raleigh's sister. She had
been drinking a little during the afternoon, but I felt that she would
be safe there, for both Raleigh and his sister knew of this miserable
failing of hers. Unfortunately, I had a lot of work to do that evening,
and I was unable to go with her. I went about eleven o'clock to bring
her home. I found she had not been there at