raveling coat of fur, advanced the
sympathetic widow.

"My dear Madge!" cried her betrothed.

Almost in the same instant his off eye signaled to his son a hurried but
expressive warning.

CHAPTER XIII

The hour was late, but in spite of Heriot's kindly suggestion that
the rapture he anticipated from her conversation should be postponed
till she had recovered from the fatigues of her journey, his fiancee
unselfishly preferred to recompense him immediately for his prolonged
deprivation of her society. He acceded at once to her wishes, with the
most amiable air imaginable.

"And now, my dear Madge," said he, when they were seated in a secluded
corner of the lounge, "tell me all your news. In the first place, how's
my own precious?"

"I am very well, thank you," replied the lady, a little coolly.

"Delighted to hear it!"

"You could, of course, have discovered it sooner by simply writing to
inquire," she pointed out, with the same air.

"But I did, my dear girl, I did."

"Once."

"Only once, was it? Now, I could have sworn it was twice."

"And did you think twice was often enough?"

"Well, you see, Madge," he explained, "we got engaged in such a deuce
of a hurry, and I had to rush off next morning, and so on. I didn't
have time to ask you how often you wished me to write."

"Didn't my last two unanswered letters give you any idea on the
subject?"

"Two letters, Madge? Now, do you know, I could have sworn it was only
one."

She looked at him steadily.

"Heriot, what is the meaning of your conduct?"

"To what points in it do you refer, my dear?"

"I may tell you I have heard from Charlie Munro."

It was remarkable how quickly Mr. Walkingshaw had developed. That
reputation he still clung to when he saw her last was no longer a
brake upon his downward career.

"Poor old Charlie!" he laughed. "By Jove, Madge, I jolly well hoisted
him with his own thingamajig!"

She regarded him stonily.

"And what of the business you went to see him about?"

"Did I say I was going to see him on business?"

"You did!"

"Oh, no, no, my dear girl; you must have misunderstood me. Of course, it
was natural enough; we were both rather carried away by our feelings
that night, weren't we, Madge?"

He took her hand and pressed it affectionately, but it made no response.

"Why didn't you come to see me when you were in Edinburgh?" she
inquired.

"I ought to have," he answered, with an expression of the sinc