again his heart sank.

'I went there in the evening. Redgrave happened to be outside--in that
veranda of his. I saw him as I came near in the dark, and I fancied
that--that he had been talking to someone in the room--through the
folding windows. I went up to him quickly, and as soon as he saw me he
pulled the window to. After that--I only remember that I was raving
mad. He seemed to want to stop me, and I struck at him--and that was
the end.'

Sibyl shuddered.

'You went into the room?'

'Yes. No one was there.'

Both kept silence. Sibyl had become very grave, and was thinking
intently. Then, with a few brief questions, vigilant, precise, she
learnt all that had taken place between Hugh and Mrs. Maskell, between
Hugh and the doctor; heard of the woman's disappearance, and of Mrs
Fenimore's arrival on the scene.

'What shall you do now?'

'Go back and give myself up. What else _can_ I do?'

'And tell everything--as you have told it to me?'

Hugh met her eyes and moved his arms in a gesture of misery.

'No! I will think of something. He is dead, and can't contradict; and
the woman will hide--trust her. Your name shan't come into it at all. I
owe you that, Sibyl. I'll find some cause for a quarrel with him. Your
name shan't be spoken.'

She listened, her eyes down, her forehead lined in thought.

'I know what!' Hugh exclaimed, with gloomy resolve. 'That woman--of
course, there'll be a mystery, and she'll be searched for. Why'--he
blustered against his shame--'why shouldn't she be the cause of it?
Yes, that would do.'

His hoarse laugh caused a tremor in Sibyl; she rose and stepped close
to him, and laid a hand upon his shoulder.

'So far you have advised yourself. Will you let me advise you now,
dear?'

'Wouldn't that seem likely?'

'I think not. And if it _did_--what is the result? You will be dealt
with much more severely. Don't you see that?'

'What's that to me? What do I care so long as you are out of the vile
business? You will have no difficulties. Your mother's money; and then
Mackintosh----'

'And is that all?' asked Sibyl, with a look which seemed to wonder
profoundly. 'Am I to think only of my own safety?'

'It's all my cursed fault--just because I'm a fierce, strong brute, who
ought to be anywhere but among civilised people. I've killed the man
who meant me nothing but kindness. Am I going to drag _your_ name into
the mud--to set people grinning and winking----'

'Be quiet, Hugh, an