n."

She started impulsively to her feet and stood in front of him, holding
her hands to him.

"Fred, I must say it. I cannot bear this longer. It may make you hate
me--detest and despise me, but I must say it. If you had only shown
resentment or anger or spite for the way in which I treated you, it
would not have been so hard to bear. Oh, don't you see? Don't you
understand? Oh, isn't there one scrap of pity left in you for me? I was
trapped into marriage, Fred. I never loved him, never, never! He--oh,
have some pity on me, Fred, some pity."

She sank into a chair and buried her face on her arms on the table as
she gave way to a storm of weeping.

To the man it was agony to see her, anguish to hear her, more bitter
after the confession she had made and while the grip of suspicion still
held him. Scarcely knowing what he did, he stepped to her side and laid
his hand gently upon her head.

"I have pity, more than pity for you, Jess," he whispered. "Don't
think----" He caught his breath to check the quiver in his voice, and so
remembered. "I beg your pardon--Mrs. Eustace I should have said," he
added as he drew back.

With hands close clenched behind him he stood. The love he fancied he
had stifled had burst through the restraint he had placed upon it; the
injury she had inflicted upon him, the wrong she had done, the cause
for resentment she had given him were alike forgotten. The lingering
suspicion alone prevented him from taking her in his arms to soothe and
comfort her in her distress. Fighting against himself he stood silent,
and the woman, aching for someone on whom to lean, shivered.

"What am I to do?" she moaned. "What am I to do?"

He, thinking only of her, took the words to refer to her present
difficulty.

"I think it would be better if you went away," he said gently. "I do not
think it will be easier for you to bear if you are here when--should
anything else come to light."

"You mean if--if he is arrested?"

"Yes."

She lifted up her head and turned a tear-stained face towards him.

"Have they found him? Have they? Is that why--why I am asked to leave
the house?"

"No, Mrs. Eustace. A new manager will be appointed, and the house is
wanted for him."

"But I will not leave Waroona," she exclaimed, as she stood up. "I dare
not leave it--till I know. If he--suppose he did do it--and wants to
find me?"

"I should advise you to go right away," Harding said, still speaking
gently. "You will