e the
bitter day on which she had parted with her favourite. Looking back, she
saw now clearly what that tragedy had meant to her. It had been indeed
the commencement of a new stage in her life's journey. It was on that day
that she had finally stepped forth from the summer fields of her
childhood, and she knew that she would wander in them no more for ever.

The thought went through her with a dart of pain. They had been very
green, those fields, and the great thoroughfare which now she trod seemed
cruelly hard to her unaccustomed feet.

A sharp sigh escaped her as she gently withdrew herself from her
husband's arms. "Shall we talk about it to-morrow?" she said.

CHAPTER IV

"MINE OWN FAMILIAR FRIEND"

Sitting in his writing-room with Bertrand that night Mordaunt imparted
the news that concerned him so nearly.

The young Frenchman listened in almost unbroken silence, betraying
neither surprise nor even a very great measure of interest. He sat and
smoked, with eyes downcast, sometimes fidgeting a little with the fingers
of one hand on the arm of his chair, but otherwise displaying no sign of
agitation.

Only at the end of the narration did he glance up, and that was but
momentarily, when Mordaunt said, "It transpires that this Rodolphe had an
old score to pay off. You were enemies?"

Bertrand removed his cigarette to reply, "That is true."

"You once fought a duel with him?" Mordaunt proceeded.

Bertrand's eyelids quivered, but he did not raise them. He merely
answered, "Yes."

"That fact will probably figure in the evidence," Mordaunt said. "The
cause of the duel is at present unknown."

"It is--immaterial," Bertrand said, in a very low voice. He paused a
moment, then said, "And you, you will be at the trial to report?"

"Yes. I am going. Chris will go with me."

"Ah!" The exclamation seemed involuntary. Bertrand's hand suddenly
clenched hard upon the chair-arm. "You will take her--to Valpre?" he
questioned.

"Probably not to the place itself," Mordaunt made answer. "I think she is
not very anxious to go there. It has associations that she would rather
not renew. We shall stay somewhere within easy reach of Valpre. Perhaps
you can tell me of a suitable resting-place not too far away. You know
that part of the world."

"I know it well," Bertrand said, and fell silent, as though pondering the
matter. At the end of a lengthy pause he spoke, abruptly, with just a
tinge of nervousness. "But why