"

"Is Mrs. Denning here with you?"

"Both my father and mother are with me. Father is going to take a year's
rest, and we shall visit Berlin, Vienna, Rome, Paris or wherever our
fancy leads us."

"And Mr. Mostyn?"

"He can follow me round, and see nobles and princes and kings pay court
to the beauty of the 'cat-faced woman.' I shall never notice him, never
speak to him; but you need not look so suspicious, Ethel. Neither
by word nor deed will I break a single convention of the strictest
respectability."

"Mr. Mostyn ought to give you your freedom."

"I have given freedom to myself. I have already divorced him. When they
brought my dead baby for me to kiss, I slipped into its little hand
the ring that made me his mother. They went to the bottom of the sea
together. As for ever marrying again, not in this life. I have had
enough of it. My first husband was the sweetest saint out of heaven,
and my second was some mean little demon that had sneaked his way out of
hell; and I found both insupportable." She lifted her hat as she spoke,
and began to pin it on her beautifully dressed hair. "Have no fear for
me," she continued. "I am sure Basil watches over me. Some day I shall
be good, and he will be happy." Then, hand in hand, they walked to the
door together, and there were tears in both voices as they softly said
"Good-by."

CHAPTER XII

A WEEK after this interview Tyrrel and Ethel were in New York. They
landed early in the morning, but the Judge and Ruth were on the pier to
meet them; and they breakfasted together at the fashionable hotel,
where an elegant suite had been reserved for the residence of the
Tyrrel-Rawdons until they had perfected their plans for the future.
Tyrrel was boyishly excited, but Ethel's interest could not leave
her father and his new wife. These two had lived in the same home for
fifteen years, and then they had married each other, and both of them
looked fifteen years younger. The Judge was actually merry, and Ruth, in
spite of her supposed "docility," had quite reversed the situation. It
was the Judge who was now docile, and even admiringly obedient to all
Ruth's wifely advices and admonitions.

The breakfast was a talkative, tardy one, but at length the Judge went
to his office and Tyrrel had to go to the Custom House. Ethel was eager
to see her grandmother, and she was sure the dear old lady was anxiously
waiting her arrival. And Ruth was just as anxious for Ethel to visit her