t his guest might have taken the
English freedom of shaking hands. "When will you come and look at the
pictures again?" he asked. "Will you dine with us, and see how they bear
the lamplight?"

"I am sorry to say I must beg you to excuse me. My plans are altered
since we met yesterday. I am obliged to leave London."

Romayne was unwilling to part with him on these terms. "You will let me
know when you are next in town?" he said.

"Certainly!"

With that short answer he hurried away.

Romayne waited a little in the hall before he went back to his wife.
Stella's reception of Winterfield, though not positively ungracious,
was, nevertheless, the reverse of encouraging. What extraordinary
caprice had made her insensible to the social attractions of a man
so unaffectedly agreeable? It was not wonderful that Winterfield's
cordiality should have been chilled by the cold welcome that he
had received from the mistress of the house. At the same time, some
allowance was to be made for the influence of Stella's domestic
anxieties, and some sympathy was claimed by the state of her health.
Although her husband shrank from distressing her by any immediate
reference to her reception of his friend, he could not disguise from
himself that she had disappointed him. When he went back to the room,
Stella was lying on the sofa with her face turned toward the wall. She
was in tears, and she was afraid to let him see it. "I won't disturb
you," he said, and withdrew to his study. The precious volume which
Winterfield had so kindly placed at his disposal was on the table,
waiting for him.

Father Benwell had lost little by not being present at the introduction
of Winterfield to Stella. He had witnessed a plainer betrayal of emotion
when they met unexpectedly in Lord Loring's picture gallery. But if he
had seen Romayne reading in his study, and Stella crying secretly on the
sofa, he might have written to Rome by that day's post, and might have
announced that he had sown the first seeds of disunion between husband
and wife.

CHAPTER V.

FATHER BENWELL'S CORRESPONDENCE.

_To the Secretary, S. J., Rome._

In my last few hasty lines I was only able to inform you of the
unexpected arrival of Mrs. Romayne while Winterfield was visiting
her husband. If you remember, I warned you not to attach any undue
importance to my absence on that occasion. My present report will
satisfy my reverend brethren that the interests committed to me are as