t of insanity.

"I'd kill her and you too if it was safe to do it. You both deserve it!"

He flung across the room, having lost his wits as well as his temper.
But a second later both came back to him as in a revulsion of feeling.

"I talk like a melodramatic fool," he cried. "Oh, Hester, forgive me!"
He knelt on the floor by her side, caressing her imploringly. "We both
take fire in the same way. We are both driven crazy by this damned blow.
We're beaten; we may as well own it and take what we can get. She's a
fool, but she's better than that pompous, stiff brute Walderhurst, and
she has a lot of pull over him he knows nothing about. The smug animal
is falling in love with her in his way. She can make him do the decent
thing. Let us keep friends with her."

"The decent thing would be a thousand a year," wailed Hester, giving in
to his contrition in spite of herself, because she had once been in love
with him, and because she was utterly helpless. "Five hundred a year
wouldn't be indecent."

"Let us keep on her good side," he said, fondling her, with a relieved
countenance. "Tell her you will come and that she is an angel, and that
you are sure a visit to the Manor will save your life."

They went to Palstrey a few days later. Ameerah accompanied them in
attendance upon her mistress, and the three settled down into a life so
regular that it scarcely seemed to wear the aspect of a visit. The
Osborns were given some of the most beautiful and convenient rooms in
the house. No other visitors were impending and the whole big place was
at their disposal. Hester's boudoir overlooked the most perfect nooks of
garden, and its sweet chintz draperies and cushions and books and
flowers made it a luxurious abode of peace.

"What shall I do," she said on the first evening in it as she sat in a
soft chair by the window, looking out at the twilight and talking to
Emily. "What shall I do when I must go away?"

"I don't mean only from here,--I mean away from England, to loathly
India."

"Do you dislike it so?" Emily asked, roused to a new conception of her
feeling by her tone.

"I could never describe to you how much," fiercely. "It is like going to
the place which is the opposite of Heaven."

"I did not know that," pityingly. "Perhaps--I wonder if something might
not be done: I must talk to my husband."

Ameerah seemed to develop an odd fancy for the society of Jane Cupp,
which Jane was obliged to confess to her mistress h