stood quite
still, holding the table, till he came back.

"My traps are in the hall; I must say good-bye quickly, darling." How
handsome, how well he looked, as he stooped over her with his plaid
over his arm.

He need not be fearful of her detaining him; there was no clinging, no
agony of weeping this time. She put her two hands round his neck and
held him for a moment, as her cold lips touched his, and then stood
quite still and waved to him--sadly, quietly--from the window as he
drove past, and that was all.

CHAPTER XXXII.

"GOOD-BYE--GOOD-BYE."

I never will look more into your face
Till God says, "Look!" I charge you, seek me not,
Nor vex yourself with lamentable thoughts
That peradventure I have come to grief.
Be sure I'm well, I'm merry, I'm at ease,
But such a long way, long way, long way off,
I think you'll find me sooner in my grave,
And that's my choice--observe.

E. B. BROWNING.

Fay had made up her mind to be lost.

Could any one imagine anything so utterly ignorant and childish, and
yet so pathetic? She was going to lay down her wifely rights and steal
away, friendless and unprotected, into the great lonely world, so that
Hugh might come back to his old home in peace.

With the rash impulse of despair--of a despair that hoped nothing and
feared nothing--she was taking the most terrible step that a young
creature could take. She was doing evil that good might come; she was
giving up herself in complete renunciation and self-sacrifice in
obedience to a miserable and mistaken idea. If she had been older; if
her simplicity of character had been less childish, and her worldly
knowledge greater, she must surely have hesitated before taking a step
that must anger as well as grieve her husband. How would Sir Hugh's
haughty spirit brook the disgrace of publicity and the nine-days'
wonder of the world when they knew that his wife, Lady Redmond--the
successor of all the starched and spotless dames who hung in the old
guest-chambers--should so forget herself and him as to tarnish his
reputation by an act so improper and incredible.

He might forgive his spoiled trip, and all the trouble that awaited
him in his empty home; but how will he ever bring himself to forgive
that?

But Fay, poor mistaken child, thought of none of these things. She
only felt that she must go and take her baby with her. There was no
time to be lost, an