k at the table the previous evening expressed his
indignation at Emmet's treatment, it seemed to tell also his acceptance
of the inevitable, and to convey to her in her doubt his advice, almost
his entreaty. It was as if he had pointed out to her the path of duty,
and warned her against his colleague, not in a spirit of jealousy, but
in the spirit of a friend who had readied an absolute renunciation of
whatever hopes he might once have cherished, and now thought only of
her. For a moment she softened almost to the point of tears, but this
indulgence was brief. A vision of her husband's bulldog air, as he sat
there baffled and at bay, returned to menace her. She realised that he
would not leave matters longer as they were, that he might force the
crisis that very day. The mettle of the bishop's daughter was never
more apparent than now, as she faced the probable results of her own
actions. She was by no means inclined to take her punishment quietly,
or to admit that she was in the wrong. Having ruled her husband so
long, she would not now allow him to dictate to her, but would fight
for her own happiness. Her hands clenched involuntarily, and her
breath came quick with militant excitement. Had she been a man, her
career, in whatever line she might have chosen, could scarcely have
been less than remarkable.

Meanwhile the bishop was frittering the morning away by a desultory
attention to his correspondence, hoping each moment that Felicity would
pass the open door of his study. He was no longer a busy man, for the
onerous duties of his office were now taken by his coadjutor, and he
could well afford to wait. He did not know what he wished to say to
her, but he would see her face again and observe her manner, that he
might examine anew his grounds of suspicion. For him there were no
longer golden hours which it were a sin for others to filch from him.
In the sunset of his life he dreamed of the active labours of his
successors, of the institution which he would leave in a position to
feed more generously the ministry of the Church. Should he allow her
foolish fancy for a fortune hunter to divert her from the purpose he
hoped she would one day cherish? Even if a husband made no attempt to
dissuade her, a child would inevitably become an heir, and her plans
would be solely for him. Cold and austere by nature, he had married
his own position to wealth, and he felt no desire to perpetuate his
line under the name