ack from America; and she felt
just now as though she could not have borne such an encounter.

Erle had to go up to London the next day, but the Hon. Algernon
Fitzclarence took his place the following evening, and after that Fay
had a miserable time; for all day long Hugh and his guest were
planning the route for their trip, or talking over previous tours.

Either Fay's knowledge of geography was very limited or her head got
confused; but as she listened to them, she felt as though Egypt were
thousands of miles away, and as though Hugh would certainly get lost
in those trackless deserts, and die of thirst like the poor travelers
of whom she had read. It was cruel to leave her for such dangers, she
thought. And sometimes she got so nervous that she would make an
excuse and leave the room, that she might not hear any more. And then
she would wander about the grounds in an aimless way, trying to throw
off the oppression that was growing greater as the days went on. It
was not that she did not want her husband to leave her. Her loneliness
could not be greater if he went away--so she believed in her
wretchedness; but she was so terrified for him. And she had taken a
dislike to the Hon. Algernon Fitzclarence. He might be a great
traveler, as Hugh told her, and a very amusing companion, but his
manners were not to her taste. Fay's innocence instinctively took
alarm at the covert admiration conveyed in her guest's looks and
words. He was too much a man of the world to pay her open compliments;
and indeed her gentle dignity repelled him; but he made her understand
that he thought his hostess very charming.

Hugh noticed nothing; he was rather pleased than otherwise that a
fastidious man like Fitzclarence should admire his little wife. Fay
was certainly very pretty, even in her husband's eyes, and she was so
much improved--not half so childish. But it was a relief to Fay when
the Hon. Algernon departed. Hugh was to join him in town for a day or
two to procure his outfit, and then come back to the Hall to bid Fay
good-bye. It was on the second day after their guest had left Redmond
Hall that Fay went into her husband's study to dust and arrange his
papers as usual.

It was a duty she had taken upon herself from the first. Sir Hugh had
a masculine horror of what he called servants' interference--he never
allowed them to touch the papers on his writing-table or bureau; and
his strictures on the feminine duster were so severe tha