r. Medhurst professionally, and
of course he is to dine here to-morrow evening. Come in and join
us; we shall be strictly _en famille_. By the way, Margaret has
not only finished 'Chiron' and the 'Spanish Marauder,' but she
has actually sold both! They look very well, indeed, in bronze.
Yours ever, Kate Medhurst.

"P. S.--Diana sends her love and hopes that if you have any more
stamps you will bring them with you."

This postscript was in the writing of the young lady herself.

The reading of these letters did not give him any pleasure just then.
These other lives in whose round he was an important figure were going
on without any intuition of his inner tragedy, without any suspicion
that they would henceforwards have to go on without him; that he could
no more carry them forward into his vague, new life than those equally
vital elements of his old self--his poems! How strangely did their
moods contrast with his--his father's playful good-humour, Lady
Thiselton's sprightly _camaraderie_ and Mrs. Medhurst's cheerful
domesticity!

But the last letter made him wince. It was only a simple invitation,
but it hurt him as though a finger had been put on a raw wound. For
he, who had made a failure of his existence, whose one remaining link
with life was a mere grotesque possibility of an adventure with an
unknown serpent-woman, loved Margaret Medhurst with a poet's
despairing love.

The figure of the scented woman floated up again. She had let the
letter fall into her lap now and her wonderful face seemed to smile at
him.

CHAPTER III.

He awoke in the morning, acceptant of what he had done in the night. A
calmness had set in and with it had come a clarification of his
thought. His grasp of the position was more definite, and his feeling
was that, to meet it adequately, he must disattach himself completely
from the past.

But the future was mystic and seductive.

However, his tendency to dwell on it had to be put aside in favour of
commonplace things that must be done immediately. As Ingram had
pointed out to him, he might be as indifferent to money as he pleased,
yet he must give it his first attention. Though ready cash was
exhausted, he remembered almost with surprise he had several
possessions that might be converted into it.

His breakfast was served to him as usual, but he did not open the
promised letter which duly arrived from Lady Thiselton. His general
sense