am,
contrasting it with her wilful and absurd behavior to the man himself.
There was something bewildering in such power--combined with such folly.
In a sense, it was perfectly true that she had insulted her husband's
chief, and jeopardized her husband's policy, because she could not put
up with Lord Parham's white eyelashes.

Well, let him make his account with it! How to love her, tend her, make
her happy--and yet carry on himself the life of high office--there was
the problem! Meanwhile he recognized, fully and humorously, that she had
married a political sceptic--and that it was hard for her to know what
to do with the enthusiast who had taken his place.

Poor, pretty, incalculable darling! He would coax her to stay abroad
part of the Parliamentary season--and then, perhaps, lure her into the
country, with the rebuilding and refurnishing of Haggart. She must be
managed and kept from harm--and afterwards indulged and spoiled and
<i>feted</i> to her heart's content.

If only the fates would give them another child!--a child brilliant and
lovely like herself, then surely this melancholy which overshadowed her
would disperse. That look--that tragic look--she had given him on the
day of the <i>fete</i>, when she spoke of "separation"! The wild adventure
with the lamp had been her revenge--her despair. He shuddered as he
thought of it.

He fell asleep, still pondering restlessly over her future and his own.
Amid all his anxieties he never stooped to recollect the man who had
endangered her name and peace. His optimism, his pride, the sanguine
perfunctoriness of much of his character were all shown in the omission.

* * * * *

Kitty, however, was not asleep while Ashe was beside her. And she slept
but little through the hours that followed. Between three and four she
was finally roused by the sounds of storm in the canal. It was as though
a fleet of gigantic steamers--in days when Venice knew but the
gondola--were passing outside, sending a mountainous "wash" against the
walls of the old palace in which they lodged. In this languid autumnal
Venice the sudden noise and crash were startling. Kitty sprang softly
out of bed, flung on a dressing-gown and fur cloak, and slipped through
the open window to the balcony.

A strange sight! Beneath, livid waves, lashing the marble walls; above,
a pale moonlight, obscured by scudding clouds. Not a sign of life on
the water or in the dark palaces o