ates, into the yard, with Borhedden Farm,
bright with its lighted windows, waiting for them.

Mrs. Bolitho was standing in the porch and greeted them warmly.

"You'll be just starved," she said. "It's wisht work driving in an open
jingle all the way from Clinton. Supper's just about ready."

They were shown up to the big roomy bedroom, smelling of candles and
clover and lavender. Martin stood there looking about, then--

"Oh, Martin, isn't it nice!" Maggie cried. "I do hope you'll be happy
here!"

The emotion of returning home, of seeing the old places, sniffing the
old scents, reviving the old memories was too much for her. She flung
her arms round his neck and kissed him on the lips. For a moment, for a
wonderful moment it seemed that he was going to respond. She felt him
move towards her. His hands tightened about hers. Then, but very
gently, he drew away from her and walked to the window.

CHAPTER III

THE TRIUMPH OF LIFE

Maggie, before she left London, had written both to Paul and Mr. Magnus
giving them her new address. She had intended to see Magnus, but
Martin's illness had absorbed her so deeply that she could not proceed
outside it. She told him quite frankly that she was going down to
Glebeshire with Martin and that she would remain with him there until
he was well. She did not try to defend herself; she did not argue the
case at all; she simply stated the facts.

Mr. Magnus wrote to her at once. He was deeply concerned, he did not
chide her for what she had done, but he begged her to realise her
position. She felt through every line of his letter that he disapproved
of and distrusted Martin. His love for Maggie (and she felt that he had
indeed love for her) made him look on Martin as the instigator in this
affair. He saw Maggie, ignorant of the world, led away by a seducer
from her married life, persuaded to embark upon what his own experience
had taught him to be a dangerous, lonely, and often disastrous voyage.
He had never heard of any good of Martin; he had been always in his
view, idle, dissolute, and selfish. What could he think but that Martin
had, most wickedly, persuaded her to abandon her safety?

She answered his letter, telling him in the greatest detail the truth.
She told him that Martin had done all he could to refuse, that, had he
not been so ill, he would have left her, that he had threatened her,
again and again, with what he would do if she did not the him.

She showed