ed in you----"

"But--I shall be at Woburn Place myself in a day or two, on bail; and
then----"

"I could stay," said Lady Alice, again looking at him. Then her eyes
dropped and the color mounted to her forehead. He made a sudden step
towards her.

"Alice--is it possible--after all these years----"

"No, it is not possible," she said, with a little laugh which yet had
something in it of a sob, "and I don't think we should ever get on
together--and I don't love you at all, except for Lesley's sake--but
just until this horrible affair is over, if I might show everybody that
I have all possible faith in you, and that I know you to be good and
upright and honorable--just till then, Caspar, I _should_ like to be at
your side."

But whether Caspar heard the whole of this speech must remain for ever
doubtful, as, long before its close, he had taken her in his arms and
was sealing the past between them with a long kiss which might verily be
called the kiss of peace.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

"OUT ON BAIL."

Miss Brooke was electrified. Such a thing had never occurred to her as
possible. After years of separation, of dispute, of ill-feeling on
either side, here was Lady Alice appearing in her husband's house, and
expressing a desire to remain in it. She came to Woburn Place on the
evening after her interview with Caspar, and at once made known her
wishes to Doctor Sophy.

It was a curious interview. Miss Brooke sat bolt upright on a sofa, with
an air of repressed indignation which was exceedingly striking: Lady
Alice, half enveloped in soft black furs, was leaning back in the lowest
and most luxurious chair the room afforded, with rather more the air of
the _grande dame_ than she actually wished to convey. In reality her
heart was very soft, and there was moisture in her eyes; but it was
difficult for her to shake off an appearance of cold indifference to all
the world when Miss Sophia Brooke, M. D., was in her society. She had
never understood Doctor Sophy, and Miss Brooke had always detested her.

"Am I to understand, Lady Alice," said the spinster, in her stiffest
voice, "that my brother wishes you to take up your abode in this house
during his absence?"

"Yes, I think so," said Lady Alice, equably. "He has wished me to take
up my abode here for some time past."

"Indeed?"

The note of incredulity in her voice angered Caspar's wife.

"I think you hardly understand," she said with some quiet dignity, "that