e him again for many hours.

XVI

From sheer exhaustion she slept at last, but her sleep was broken and
unrefreshing. She turned and tossed, dozing and waking in utter
weariness of mind and body till the day was far advanced. Finally, too
restless to lie any longer, she arose and dressed.

The sound of voices took her to her window before she left her room, and
she saw her husband on horseback with Curtis standing by his side. A
sense of relief shot through her at sight of the latter. She had come to
rely upon him more than she knew. While she watched, Mercer raised his
bridle and rode slowly away without a backward glance. And again she was
conscious of relief.

Curtis stood looking after him for a few seconds, then turned and
entered the house.

She met him in the passage outside her room. He greeted her gravely.

"I was just coming to see if I could do anything for you," he said.

"Thank you," she answered nervously. "I am better now. Where has my
husband gone?"

He did not answer her immediately. He turned aside to the room in which
she generally sat, standing back for her to pass him. "I have something
to say to you," he said.

She glanced at him anxiously as she took the chair he offered her.

"In the first place," he said, "you will be wise if you keep absolutely
quiet for the next few days. There will be nothing to disturb you.
Mercer is not returning at present. He has left you in my charge."

"Oh, why?" she said.

Her hands were locked together. She had begun to tremble from head to
foot.

Curtis was watching her quietly.

"I think," he said, "that he is better away from you for a time, and he
agrees with me."

"Why?" she said again, lifting her piteous eyes. "Is he so angry with
me?"

"With you? No. He has come to his senses in that respect. But he is not
in a particularly safe mood, and he knows it. He has gone to fight it
out by himself."

Curtis paused, but Sybil did not speak. Her attitude had relaxed. He
read unmistakble relief in every line.

"Well, now," he said deliberately, "I am going to tell you the exact
truth of this business, as Mercer himself has told it to me."

"He wishes me to know it?" she asked quickly.

"He is willing that I should tell you," Curtis answered. "In fact, until
he saw me to-day he believed that you knew it already. That was the
primary cause of his savagery last night. You have probably formed a
very shrewd suspicion of what happened, but it