ded me--I was trying
to remember what I owed to my good wife. I have been thinking of her
again. We must spare her a discovery too terrible to be endured, while
her attention is claimed by the guests who are now in the house. In a
week's time they will leave us. Will you consent to keep up appearances?
Will you live with us as usual, until we are left by ourselves?"

"It shall be done, Mr. Linley. I only ask one favor of you. My worst
enemy is my own miserable wicked heart. Oh, don't you understand me? I
am ashamed to look at you!"

He had only to examine his own heart, and to know what she meant. "Say
no more," he answered sadly. "We will keep as much away from each other
as we can."

She shuddered at that open recognition of the guilty love which united
them, in spite of their horror of it, and took refuge from him in the
summer-house. Not a word more passed between them until the unbarring of
doors was heard in the stillness of the morning, and the smoke began to
rise from the kitchen chimney. Then he returned, and spoke to her.

"You can get back to the house," he said. "Go up by the front stairs,
and you will not meet the servants at this early hour. If they do see
you, you have your cloak on; they will think you have been in the garden
earlier than usual. As you pass the upper door, draw back the bolts
quietly, and I can let myself in."

She bent her head in silence. He looked after her as she hastened away
from him over the lawn; conscious of admiring her, conscious of more
than he dared realize to himself. When she disappeared, he turned back
to wait where she had been waiting. With his sense of the duty he owed
to his wife penitently present to his mind, the memory of that fatal
kiss still left its vivid impression on him. "What a scoundrel I am!"
he said to himself as he stood alone in the summer-house, looking at the
chair which she had just left.

Chapter X. Kitty Mentions Her Birthday.

A clever old lady, possessed of the inestimable advantages of worldly
experience, must submit nevertheless to the laws of Nature. Time and
Sleep together--powerful agents in the small hours of the morning--had
got the better of Mrs. Presty's resolution to keep awake. Free from
discovery, Sydney ascended the stairs. Free from discovery, Sydney
entered her own room.

Half-an-hour later, Linley opened the door of his dressing-room. His
wife was still sleeping. His mother-in-law woke two hours later; looked
at he