do, Sibyl.'

'I supposed she could behave herself. She raises her voice, and uses
outrageous words, and shows temper with the servants. I wouldn't spend
a day in that house now on any account. And, after all, I find she
hasn't lost much more than I have. She will be able to count on six
hundred a year at least.'

Carnaby received the news with a brightened visage.

'Oh come! That's something.'

'She took very good care, you see, not to risk everything herself.'

'It's possible,' said Hugh, 'that she hadn't control of all her money.'

'Oh yes, she had. She let that fact escape in her fury--congratulated
herself on being so far prudent. Really, I never knew a more hateful
woman.'

It was said without vehemence, with none of that raising of the voice
which so offended her: a deliberate judgment, in carefully chosen
words. Hugh tried to smile, but could not quite command his features;
they expressed an uneasy thoughtfulness.

'Do you go out this evening?' he asked, after a pause.

'No; I'm rather tired and out of sorts. Dinner is at seven. I shall go
to bed early.'

The police had as yet failed to get upon the track of the felonious
housekeeper, known as Mrs. Maskell. Mrs. Carnaby's other servants still
kept their places, protesting innocence, and doubtless afraid to leave
lest they should incur suspicion. Domestic management was now In the
hands of the cook. Sibyl always declared that she could not eat a
dinner she had had the trouble of ordering, and she seemed unaffectedly
to shrink from persons of the menial class, as though with physical
repulsion. Perforce she submitted to having her hair done by her maid,
but she found the necessity disagreeable.

The dinner was simple, but well cooked. Sibyl never ate with hearty
appetite, and declined everything not of excellent quality; unlike
women in general, she was fastidious about wine, yet took of it
sparingly; liqueurs, too, she enjoyed, and very strong coffee. To a
cigarette in the mouth of a woman she utterly objected; it offended her
sense of the becoming, her delicate perception of propriety. When
dining alone or with Hugh, she dressed as carefully as for a
ceremonious occasion. Any approach to personal disorder or neglect was
inconceivable in Sibyl. Her husband had, by accident, heard her called
'the best-groomed woman in London'; he thought the praise well merited,
and it flattered him.

At table they talked of things as remote as possible from their
i