nhuman conduct to my wife!'

"'Ach y fi! What are you? he said, with his strong Welsh accent, 'are
you man or devil?' and he tore open the wounds which were already
galling me unbearably. 'You bring a young girl from a happy home,
where she was indulged and petted, and in a year's time you have broken
her spirit, and you will break her heart. Because her brute of an
uncle forbids his own daughter to go near her--my sister, her old
schoolfellow, goes to see her in her trouble, and you turn her out of
your house. I have longed for the opportunity of telling you what I
thought of you, and of what all the world thinks of you.'

"I was a strong man, and he was a weak and shrivelled creature; I could
have tossed him over the rocks into the sea below. It required a very
strong effort to control my fury, but I did do so, and I turned away
without answering him, except by a cold, haughty look. I hated him,
Caradoc, and I have hated him ever since. He had not then heard of
Agnes's death, but the news flew fast through the neighbourhood, and I
knew I was everywhere looked upon as her murderer!

"As I returned to my miserable home, I saw a man on horseback come out
at the back gate. It was one of Colonel Vaughan's servants. I
wondered what brought him there so early, but went in at the front gate
to avoid meeting him. The house was very silent with its drawn blinds.

"When Betto came in with pale, tearful face, I asked her what had
brought Colonel Vaughan's servant there so early.

"'A very strange thing, sir,' she said. 'He came to ask if Miss
Vaughan was here? Colonel Vaughan was in great distress--if you call
tearing about and swearing being in great distress--that was what Sam
said, sir--because Miss Vaughan is nowhere to be found. Dir anwl! a
strange thing, indeed, sir!'

"I was too miserable to pay much attention to her gossip, and began my
breakfast alone, for Lewis had not appeared, and I dreaded to see him.
I had thought it strange that in the turmoil of the night before, with
the hurried footsteps and the arrival of the doctor's gig, my brother
had not been disturbed, and he was apparently still sleeping. I shall
never forget that long, long day. I thought my misery was beyond human
endurance; little did I think that ere night it would be increased
tenfold.

"I had refused to leave this room, though Betto had done her best to
persuade me to eat the dinner which she had prepared She was always
quick