delicacy of Tynn would not speak. "He may be coming to claim Sibylla."

CHAPTER LXIII.

LOOKING OUT FOR THE WORST.

The night passed quietly at Verner's Pride. Not, for all its inmates,
pleasantly. Faithful Tynn bolted and barred the doors and windows with
his own hand, as he might have done on the anticipated invasion of a
burglar. He then took up his station to watch the approaches to the
house, and never stirred until morning light. There may have run in
Tynn's mind some vague fear of violence, should his master and Frederick
Massingbird come in contact.

How did Lionel pass it? Wakeful and watchful as Tynn. He went to bed;
but sleep, for him, there was none. His wife, by his side, slept all
through the night. Better, of course, for her that it should be so; but,
that her frame of mind could be sufficiently easy to admit of sleep, was
a perfect marvel to Lionel. Had he needed proof to convince him how
shallow was her mind, how incapable she was of depth of feeling, of
thought, this would have supplied it. She slept throughout the night.
Lionel never closed his eyes; his brain was at work, his mind was
troubled, his heart was aching. Not for himself. His position was
certainly not one to be envied; but, in his great anxiety for his wife,
self passed out of sight. To what conflict might she not be about to be
exposed! to what unseemly violence of struggle, outwardly and inwardly,
might she not expose herself! He knew quite well that, according to the
laws of God and man, she was Frederick Massingbird's wife; not his. He
should never think--when the time came--of disputing Frederick
Massingbird's claim to her. But, what would she do?--how would she act?
He believed in his heart, that Sibylla, in spite of her aggravations
shown to him, and whatever may have been her preference for Frederick
Massingbird in the early days, best cared for him, Lionel, now. He
believed that she would not willingly return to Frederick Massingbird.
Or, if she did, it would be for the sake of Verner's Pride.

He was right. Heartless, selfish, vain, and ambitious, Verner's Pride
possessed far more attraction for Sibylla than did either Lionel or
Frederick Massingbird. Allow her to keep quiet possession of that, and
she would not cast much thought to either of them. If the conflict
actually came, Lionel felt, in his innate refinement, that the proper
course for Sibylla to adopt would be to retire from all social ties,
partially to r