Jemima's chair.

St. George half raised himself from his bed: "You have seen him?"

"Yes--and I wish I hadn't. But I hunted everywhere for you and then got
a horse and rode out home. He didn't know me--that is, I'm pretty sure
he didn't--but he cursed me all the same. My mother and old Alec, I
hope, will come in to-day--but father's chapter is closed forever. I
have been a fool to hope for anything else."

"Drove you out! Oh, no--NO! Harry! Impossible!"

"But he did--" and then followed an account of all the wanderer had
passed through from the time he had set foot on shore to the moment of
meeting Todd and himself.

For some minutes St. George lay staring at the ceiling. It was all a
horrid, nightmare to him. Talbot deserved nothing but contempt and he
would get it so far as he was concerned. He agreed with Harry that all
reconciliation was now a thing of the past; the only solution possible
was that Talbot was out of his senses--the affair having undermined
his reason. He had heard of such cases and had doubted them--he was
convinced now that they could be true. His answer, therefore, to Harry's
next question--one about his lost sweetheart--was given with a certain
hesitation. As long as the memory of Rutter's curses rankled within him
all reference to Kate's affairs--even the little he knew himself--must
be made with some circumspection. There was no hope in that direction
either, but he did not want to tell him so outright; nor did he want to
dwell too long upon the subject.

"And I suppose Kate is married by this time, Uncle George," Harry said
at last in a casual tone, "is she not?" (He had been leading up to it
rather skilfully, but there had been no doubt in his uncle's mind as to
his intention.) "I saw the house lighted up, night before last when I
passed, and a lot of people about, so I thought it might be either the
wedding or the reception." The question had left his lips as one shoots
an arrow in the dark--hit or miss--as if he did not care which. He too
realized that this was no time to open wounds, certainly not in his
uncle's heart; and yet he could wait no longer.

"No--I don't think the wedding has taken place," St. George replied
vaguely. "The servants would know if it had--they know everything--and
Aunt Jemima would be the first to have told me. The house being lighted
up is no evidence. They have been giving a series of entertainments this
winter and there were more to come when I last saw Ka