"I don't like Mrs. Octagon--I never did," said Mallow, impetuously,
"but I don't care two straws for her opposition. I shall marry Juliet
in spite of this revenge she seems to be practising on you. Though why
she should hope to vex you by meddling with my marriage, I cannot
understand."

"I can put the matter in a nutshell," said Caranby, and quoted
Congreve--

"'Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned
Nor Hell a fury like a woman scorned.'"

"Oh," said Mallow, dropping his cigarette, and a whole story was
revealed to him in the quotation.

"A gentleman doesn't talk of these things," said Caranby abruptly, "and
for years I have held my tongue. Still, as Mrs. Octagon does not
hesitate to strike at me through you, and as your happiness is at
stake, and the happiness of the girl you love, I shall tell you--so far
as I can guess--why the woman behaves in this way."

"If you please, sir," and Cuthbert settled himself to listen.

"About twenty years ago," said Caranby, plunging headfirst into his
subject, "Isabella and Selina Loach were well-known in society. They
were the daughters of a country squire--Kent, I remember--and created a
sensation with their beauty when they came to town. I fell in love
with Selina, and Isabella--if you will pardon my vanity--fell in love
with me. She hated her sister on my account. I would have married
Selina, but her father, who was hard up, wished her to marry a wealthy
American. Isabella, to part Selina from me, helped her father. What
arguments they used I do not know, but Selina suddenly changed in her
manner towards me. Out of pique--you may think this weak of me,
Cuthbert, but I was a fool in those days--I became engaged to a girl
who was a singer. Her name was Emilia Saul, and I believe she was of
Jewish extraction. I liked her in a way, and she had a wonderful power
over me. I proposed and was accepted."

"But if you had really loved Miss Loach--"

"I should have worn the willow. I told you I was foolish, and,
moreover, Miss Saul fascinated me. Selina was cold, Emilia was
charming, and I was weak. Therefore, I became engaged to Emilia, and
Selina--as I heard, arranged to marry her wealthy American. I believe
she was angry at my apparently forgetting her so soon. But she was in
fault, not I."

Cuthbert looked at his smart shoes. "Had I loved Selina," said he
slowly, "I should have remained true to her, and have married her in
spite