is coming home,
as she had never yet done.

"In less than a month--in spite of ups and downs of fortune, probably
skilfully contrived by Francis Wing and his accomplices--for there can
be no question that the play was fraudulent--she had lost four thousand
out of the six; and it is clear that more than once she thought of
suicide as the only way out, and nothing but the remembrance of the
child restrained her. By this time Francis Wing, who was a most
handsome, well-bred, and plausible villain, was desperately in love with
her--if one can use the word love for such a passion. He began to lend
her money in small sums. She was induced to look upon him as her only
friend, and forced by the mere terror of the situation in which she
found herself to propitiate and play him as best she might. One day, in
an unguarded moment of remorse, she let him guess what had happened
about the trust money. Thenceforward she was wholly in his power. He
pressed his attentions upon her; and she, alternately civil and
repellent, as her mood went, was regarded by some of the guests in the
house as not unlikely to respond to them in the end. Meanwhile he had
told his wife the secret of the trust money for his own purposes. Lady
Wing, who was an extremely jealous woman, believed at this time that he
was merely pretending a passion for Mrs. Sparling in order the more
securely to plunder what still remained of the six thousand pounds. She
therefore aided and abetted him; and _her_ plan, no doubt, was to wait
till they and their accomplices had absorbed the last of Mrs. Sparling's
money, and then to make a midnight flitting, leaving their victim to
her fate.

"The _denouement_, however, came with frightful rapidity. The Wings had
taken an old house at the back of the downs for the summer, no doubt to
escape from some of the notoriety they had gained in Brighton. There--to
her final ruin--Juliet Sparling was induced to join them, and gambling
began again; she still desperately hoping to replace the trust money,
and salving her conscience, as to her sister, by drawing for the time on
the sums lent her by Francis Wing.--Here at last Lady Wing's suspicion
was aroused, and Mrs. Sparling found herself between the hatred of the
wife and the dishonorable passion of the husband. Yet to leave them
would be the signal for exposure. For some time the presence of other
guests protected her. Then the guests left, and one August night after
dinner, Francis Wing