he horror would begin again,
till again she was forced to this same action. She let the hours go and
go till the very day before, when the ache to see him and the dread of
it had become so unbearable that she could not keep quiet. Late that
afternoon--everything, to the last label, ready--she went out, still
undecided. An itch to turn the dagger in her wound, to know what had
become of Noel, took her to Edward's house. Almost unconsciously she
had put on her prettiest frock, and spent an hour before the glass. A
feverishness of soul, more than of body, which had hung about her ever
since that night, gave her colour. She looked her prettiest; and she
bought a gardenia at a shop in Baker Street and fastened it in her
dress. Reaching the old Square, she was astonished to see a board up
with the words: "To let," though the house still looked inhabited. She
rang, and was shown into the drawing-room. She had only twice been
in this house before; and for some reason, perhaps because of her own
unhappiness, the old, rather shabby room struck her as pathetic, as if
inhabited by the past. 'I wonder what his wife was like,' she thought:
And then she saw, hanging against a strip of black velvet on the wall,
that faded colour sketch of the slender young woman leaning forward,
with her hands crossed in her lap. The colouring was lavender and old
ivory, with faint touches of rose. The eyes, so living, were a little
like Gratian's; the whole face delicate, eager, good. 'Yes,' she
thought, 'he must have loved you very much. To say good-bye must have
been hard.' She was still standing before it when Pierson came in.

"That's a dear face, Edward. I've come to say good-bye. I'm leaving for
South Africa to-morrow." And, as her hand touched his, she thought: 'I
must have been mad to think I could ever have made him love me.'

"Are you--are you leaving him?"

Leila nodded:

"That's very brave, and wonderful."

"Oh! no. Needs must when the devil drives--that's all. I don't give up
happiness of my own accord. That's not within a hundred miles of the
truth. What I shall become, I don't know, but nothing better, you may be
sure. I give up because I can't keep, and you know why. Where is Noel?"

"Down at the sea, with George and Gratian."

He was looking at her in wonder; and the pained, puzzled expression on
his face angered her.

"I see the house is to let. Who'd have thought a child like that could
root up two fossils like us? Never mi