o you think's been
writing to Adela? Someone in London.'

Richard stayed his foot, and looked at his sister with the eyes which
suggested disagreeable possibilities.

'Who do you mean?' he asked briefly. 'Not mother?'

The change in him was very sudden. He had been merry and smiling.

'No; worse than that. She's got a letter from Kate.'

'From Kate? Emma's sister?' he asked in a low voice of surprise which
would have been dismay had he not governed himself.

'I saw it on the hall table; I remember her writing well enough. Just as
I was looking at it Adela came in.'

'Have you seen her since?'

Alice shook her head. She had this way of saving words. Richard walked
on. His first movement of alarm had passed, and now he affected to take
the matter with indifference. During the week immediately following his
marriage he had been prepared for this very incident; the possibility
had been one of the things he faced with a certain recklessness. But
impunity had set his mind at ease, and the news in the first instant
struck him with a trepidation which a few minutes' thought greatly
allayed. By a mental process familiar enough he at first saw the
occurrence as he had seen it in the earlier days of his temptation,
when his sense of honour yet gave him frequent trouble; he had to exert
himself to recover his present standpoint. At length he smiled.

'Just like that woman,' he said, turning half an eye on Alice.

'If she means trouble, you'll have it,' returned the girl sententiously.

'Well, it's no doubt over by this time.'

'Over? Beginning, I should say,' remarked Alice, swinging her parasol at
a butterfly.

They finished their walk to the house in silence, and Richard went
at once to his dressing-room. Here he sat down. After all, his mental
disquiet was not readily to be dismissed; it even grew as he speculated
and viewed likelihoods from all sides. Probably Kate had made a complete
disclosure. How would it affect Adela?

You must not suppose that his behaviour in the case of the man Rendal
had argued disregard for Adela's opinion of him. Richard was incapable
of understanding how it struck his wife, that was all. If he reflected
on the matter, no doubt he was very satisfied with himself, feeling that
he had displayed a manly resolution and consistency. But the present
difficulty was grave. Whatever Adela might say, there could be no doubt
as to her thought; she would henceforth--yes, despise him. That cut his