e departed, closing the door behind him. Francis came a little further
into the room. His hostess, who had subsided into an easy-chair and was
holding a screen between her face and the fire, motioned him to,
seat himself opposite. He did so without words. He felt curiously and
ridiculously tongue-tied. He fell to studying the woman instead of
attempting the banality of pointless speech. From the smooth gloss of
her burnished hair, to the daintiness of her low, black brocaded shoes,
she represented, so far as her physical and outward self were concerned,
absolute perfection. No ornament was amiss, no line or curve of her
figure other than perfectly graceful. Yet even the fire's glow which
she had seemed to dread brought no flush of colour to her cheeks. Her
appearance of complete lifelessness remained. It was as though some sort
of crust had formed about her being, a condition which her very physical
perfection seemed to render the more incomprehensible.

"You are surprised to see me here living with my husband, after what
I told you yesterday afternoon?" she said calmly, breaking at last the
silence which had reigned between them.

"I am," he admitted.

"It seems unnatural to you, I suppose?"

"Entirely."

"You still believe all that I told you?"

"I must."

She looked at the door and raised her head a little, as though either
listening or adjudging the time before her husband would return. Then
she glanced across at him once more.

"Hatred," she said, "does not always drive away. Sometimes it attracts.
Sometimes the person who hates can scarcely bear the other out of his
sight. That is where hate and love are somewhat alike."

The room was warm but Francis was conscious of shivering. She raised
her finger warningly. It seemed typical of the woman, somehow, that the
message could not be conveyed by any glance or gesture.

"He is coming," she whispered.

Oliver Hilditch reappeared, carrying cigars wrapped in gold foil which
he had brought with him from Cuba, the tobacco of which was a revelation
to his guest. The two men smoked and sipped their coffee and brandy. The
woman sat with half-closed eyes. It was obvious that Hilditch was still
in the mood for speech.

"I will tell you, Mr. Ledsam," he said, "why I am so happy to have you
here this evening. In the first place, I desire to tender you once more
my thanks for your very brilliant efforts on my behalf. The very fact
that I am able to offer you hospita