words I heard him address to her, before I went away, shook
me a little. He said: 'There is one difficulty, Neelie, that needn't
trouble us, at any rate. I have got plenty of money.' And then he kissed
her. The way to his life began to look an easier way to me when he
talked of his money, and kissed her.

"Some hours have passed, and the more I think of it, the more I fear the
blank interval between this time and the time when Mrs. Oldershaw calls
in the law, and protects me against myself. It might have been better
if I had stopped at home this morning. But how could I? After the insult
she offered me yesterday, I tingled all over to go and look at her.

"To-day; Sunday; Monday; Tuesday. They can't arrest me for the money
before Wednesday. And my miserable five pounds are dwindling to four!
And he told her he had plenty of money! And she blushed and trembled
when he kissed her. It might have been better for him, better for her,
and better for me, if my debt had fallen due yesterday, and if the
bailiffs had their hands on me at this moment.

"Suppose I had the means of leaving Thorpe Ambrose by the next train,
and going somewhere abroad, and absorbing myself in some new interest,
among new people. Could I do it, rather than look again at that easy way
to his life which would smooth the way to everything else?

"Perhaps I might. But where is the money to come from? Surely some
way of getting it struck me a day or two since? Yes; that mean idea of
asking Armadale to help me! Well; I _will_ be mean for once. I'll give
him the chance of making a generous use of that well-filled purse which
it is such a comfort to him to reflect on in his present circumstances.
It would soften my heart toward any man if he lent me money in my
present extremity; and, if Armadale lends me money, it might soften my
heart toward him. When shall I go? At once! I won't give myself time to
feel the degradation of it, and to change my mind."

"Three 'clock.--I mark the hour. He has sealed his own doom. He has
insulted me.

"Yes! I have suffered it once from Miss Milroy. And I have now suffered
it a second time from Armadale himself. An insult--a marked, merciless,
deliberate insult in the open day!

"I had got through the town, and had advanced a few hundred yards along
the road that leads to the great house, when I saw Armadale at a little
distance, coming toward me. He was walking fast--evidently with some
errand of his own to take him t