plied rather impatiently.
"What a fellow you are, Herrick! I think your wits must be
wool-gathering."

"Oh dear, nothing of the kind; I am not mad, most noble Felix, but in
my sane, sober senses. I am quite aware the lady you wish to marry was
at one time Leah Jacobi, but her married name is the Countess Antonio
Ferrari."

"What!" exclaimed Cedric, springing to his feet; but he added something
rather stronger. "Confound you, Herrick, what do you mean by talking
such infernal rot?"

"Sit down," returned Malcolm calmly; "I can't talk while you are
walking to and fro like the old gentleman. My dear boy, I am sorry to
give you this shock, but do you actually mean to tell me that you do
not know, that Leah Jacobi is a widow--that neither she nor her brother
have informed you of her previous marriage?"

"No," broke from Cedric's lips; he seemed quite stunned. Then he
exclaimed indignantly, "But it is a lie--a cursed lie!"

"You would hardly dare to say that to Hugh Rossiter's face, Cedric,"
returned Malcolm somewhat sternly. "He was my informant; he knew the
Jacobis when Saul Jacobi was a billiard-marker in San Francisco, and
his sister living with her husband in Verona. You have been badly
treated, my dear boy--how badly you little know. You have been
encouraged to make love to a married woman. When you were at
Fettercairn, Count Antonio was still alive; he only died last month."

Cedric seemed too dazed to take it in. He got up from his chair, in
spite of his friend's remonstrance, and began to pace the room again.
"Impossible," he muttered; "I will not believe it. She knew then that I
loved her, and she promised to marry me if Saul gave his consent. For
some reason he seemed to hold off a bit, but we were as good as engaged
then."

"Ah, I thought so," returned Malcolm drily; and then, like a skilful
surgeon, he did his work thoroughly; to be kind it was necessary to be
cruel, so he spared Cedric no particulars. He told him all he knew
himself; he saw him wince when he spoke of the Roman models and the
billiard-marker turned into a valet.

"Saul Jacobi told me his father was a banker and his mother of noble
blood, one of the Orsinos; I suppose he was ashamed of it all, and
wanted to keep it back. He might have trusted me and told the truth,"
faltered the lad.

"Instead of which he told you this pack of lies. And his sister is no
better, for she has lied to you too; and this is the sister-in-law you
propose to i