n uncertainty
about his attitude towards her, the approaching ordeal would be
intensified with a new agitation: was he coming to her recital, or was
he not? She had counted upon triumphing before him. If he could stay
away, her power over him was incomplete, and at the moment when she had
meant it to be irresistible.

The chance encounter on Monday with Hugh Carnaby made her think of
Sibyl, and she could not rest until she had endeavoured to learn
something of Sibyl's movements. As Carnaby was leaving town, his wife
would be free; and how did Sibyl use her freedom? On that subject Mrs
Strangeways had a decided opinion, and her knowledge of the world made
it more than probable that she was right. Without any scheme of
espionage, obeying her instinct of jealous enmity, Alma hastened to
Oxford and Cambridge Mansions. But Sibyl had left home, and--was not
expected to return that night.

How she spent the next few hours Alma could but dimly remember. It was
a vortex of wretchedness. As dark fell she found herself at the gate
leading to the bungalow, lurking, listening, waiting for courage to go
farther. She stole at length over the grass behind the bushes, until
she could see the lighted window of Redgrave's study. The window was
open. She crept nearer and nearer, till she was actually in the veranda
and looking into the room. Redgrave sat within, smoking and reading a
newspaper. She purposely made a movement which drew his attention.

How would it have ended but for Hugh Carnaby?

Beyond ascertaining that Sibyl was not there, she had of course
discovered nothing of what she wished to know. As likely as not she had
come too early. Redgrave's behaviour when she drew his attention
suggested that such a sound at the open window did not greatly surprise
him; the surprise appeared when he saw who stood there--surprise and
momentary embarrassment, which would be natural enough if he expected a
different visitor. And he was so anxious that she should come in at
once. Had she done so, Redgrave's life would have been saved; but----

Its having been publicly proved that Mrs. Carnaby was then far away
from Wimbledon did not tend to shake Alma's conviction. The summons to
her mother's deathbed had disturbed Sibyl's arrangements, that was all.
Most luckily for her, as it turned out. But women of that kind (said
Alma bitterly) are favoured by fortune.

Locked in a drawer of her writing-table lay a bundle of letters and
papers which