that it was
there before him...

She exclaimed: "But are you going?" and her exclamation made him aware
that he had left his seat and was standing in front of her... He fancied
there was some kind of appeal in her brown eyes; but she was so dim and
far off that he couldn't be sure of what she wanted, and the next moment
he found himself shaking hands with her, and heard her saying something
kind and cold about its having been so nice to see him...

Half way up the stairs little Paul, shining and rosy from supper, lurked
in ambush for his evening game. Ralph was fond of stooping down to let
the boy climb up his outstretched arms to his shoulders, but to-day, as
he did so, Paul's hug seemed to crush him in a vice, and the shout
of welcome that accompanied it racked his ears like an explosion of
steam-whistles. The queer distance between himself and the rest of the
world was annihilated again: everything stared and glared and clutched
him. He tried to turn away his face from the child's hot kisses; and as
he did so he caught sight of a mauve envelope among the hats and sticks
on the hall table.

Instantly he passed Paul over to his nurse, stammered out a word about
being tired, and sprang up the long flights to his study. The pain
in his head had stopped, but his hands trembled as he tore open the
envelope. Within it was a second letter bearing a French stamp and
addressed to himself. It looked like a business communication and had
apparently been sent to Undine's hotel in Paris and forwarded to him by
her hand. "Another bill!" he reflected grimly, as he threw it aside and
felt in the outer envelope for her letter. There was nothing there, and
after a first sharp pang of disappointment he picked up the enclosure
and opened it.

Inside was a lithographed circular, headed "Confidential" and bearing
the Paris address of a firm of private detectives who undertook, in
conditions of attested and inviolable discretion, to investigate
"delicate" situations, look up doubtful antecedents, and furnish
reliable evidence of misconduct--all on the most reasonable terms.

For a long time Ralph sat and stared at this document; then he began to
laugh and tossed it into the scrap-basket. After that, with a groan, he
dropped his head against the edge of his writing table.

XXII

When he woke, the first thing he remembered was the fact of having
cried.

He could not think how he had come to be such a fool. He hoped to heaven
no