ry!" sarcastically; then: "If you don't drop that disagreeable tone
we shall quarrel. I wish to know what you want with Ellen Arthur."

"Shade of my grandmother! If you don't drop that disagreeable name, I
shall expire. Haven't I had enough of her for one day? Alice, I know
revenge is sweet, but spare me."

"Bother! I must talk about her, else how can we settle anything? Do
you suppose I am going to allow that sweet girl to be deceived?" This
with mock indignation.

"Oh, no; certainly not! Well, if I must, I must. First, then--"

"First, what position do you intend to take towards me?"

"That depends upon yourself."

"On conditions?"

"On conditions."

"Name them."

"I am to be received as an honored guest whenever I shall choose to
visit Oakley."

"Well."

"Next, you are to do all in your power to further my suit with
Miss--you know."

"That's an easy task."

"Lastly, you are to promise me not, now or at any future time, to
declare to any one aught you may know that might be to my
disadvantage."

"That is to say, I am not to tell Ellen Arthur, or others, that you
have two wives--"

"Softly; one, my dear, _one_. Mrs. Percy Jordan, number one, is dead;
you alone are left. You see, Alice, my dear, the thing is reversed.
You have two husbands now, while I--"

"Will have two wives as soon as you can get them!"

"Just so."

"And what guarantee have I that you will not betray me to Mr. Arthur?"

"The very best in the world; mutual interest."

Cora pondered. "I don't see but that you are right," she said, at
last. "It certainly will not be to your interest to attempt to annoy
me now, but how long is this truce to last?" looking at him keenly.

Percy smoked away in tranquil silence.

"Of course, I understand what you mean by a marriage with Miss
Arthur," scornfully. "How long will it take you to squander her
dollars? And after that, what will you do?"

"Question for question, fair cross examiner; how long do you intend
remaining so quietly here, the bond slave of this idiotic old man? And
what will you do when this play is played out?"

"Because I ran away from a profligate young husband, who had decoyed
me into an illegal marriage--illegal for me, but sufficiently binding
to have put you in the penitentiary for a bi--"

"Don't say it, my dear; don't. It's an ugly word, and, after all, are
we not both in the same boat?"

"No," angrily. "Do you think I have been so poorly schooled during
thes