iberately condemned her.
She felt that it was his way of punishing her for not having been a
more conformable wife. He had not succeeded, in his life, in humbling
her pride; he would therefore do it now. She felt that he must have
had some intention of this sort.

That instinct was confirmed by the family lawyer, who told her, when
he came to have a talk on business, that Lord Hurdly had expressed to
him the supposition, and even the wish, that she should return to
America to live.

Under other conditions her husband's wish would have greatly
influenced her decision, but under these it had no weight whatever.
She could not help feeling that she had been harshly treated. It was
not the actual loss of money that she minded; it was the slight
implied thereby. She had married Lord Hurdly without any pretence of
loving him. He had not required that of her; and she had done her
best to maintain her position as his wife in accordance with his
wishes. These had often conflicted with her own, but in such cases
she had always yielded. She felt, therefore, that she had been
treated with injustice.

The chief sting of this feeling was in connection with the thought of
Horace. It made her flush with shame when she reflected that he was
bound to know that the man for whom she had given him up had treated
her so slightingly. Under the spur of this thought she had a wild
impulse to run away to America, where he should never see or hear of
her again. Business affairs compelled her to remain in England for a
short while, but she was quite determined to leave it before Horace
should arrive.

One morning, quite unexpectedly, she got a cable despatch from him.
It was addressed to Lady Hurdly, at Kingdon Hall, and was in these
words: "Kindly remain and act for me until I can arrive. Unavoidably
detained here.--SPOTSWOOD."

This direct message from the young lover who had once been so near to
her life moved Bettina to strange emotions. She was aware that Mr.
Cortlin, the family lawyer, had written him that she was going away
as soon as possible, and he had, of course, been informed of all the
conditions of his cousin's will. Not one penny had been left him
except what was his by legal right; but Lord Hurdly's personal
fortune had been an inconsiderable part of the estate, so that Horace
was now a man of great wealth as well as the bearer of an old and
noble title.

The signature to this telegram was one of the things that affected
B