o need to say any more. I wished to put you on your guard, that's
all. We've known each other for a longish time, and I've often enough
felt sorry that something didn't come off--you remember when. No good
talking about that; but I shall always be glad if I can be a friend to
you. And, I say, don't think any more about that cheque, there's a good
girl.'

The note of familiar patronage was more than distasteful to Alma.

'I shall, of course, send it,' she replied curtly.

'As you please. Would you like to hear a bit from my new opera? It
isn't every one gets the chance, you know.'

Quite in his old way, he seated himself at the piano, and ran lightly
through a few choice _morceaux_, exacting praise, and showing himself
vexed because it was not fervent. In spite of her wandering thoughts,
Alma felt the seductiveness of these melodies--their originality, their
grace--and once more she wondered at their coming from the mind of such
a man.

'Very pretty.'

'Pretty!' exclaimed the composer scornfully. 'It's a good deal more
than that, and you know it. I don't care--there's somebody else feels
deuced proud of me, and good reason too. Well, ta-ta!'

There are disadvantages in associating with people whose every word, as
likely as not, may be an insidious falsehood. Thinking over what she
had heard from Dymes, Alma was inclined to believe him; on the other
hand, she knew it to be quite possible that he sought her with some
interested motive. The wise thing, she knew, would be to disregard his
reports, and hold aloof from the world in which they originated. But
she had a strong desire to see Mrs. Strangeways. There might be someone
at the house in Porchester Terrace who could help her to discover its
late tenant. However dangerous the woman's wiles and slanders, an
interview with her could do no harm, and might set at rest a curiosity
long lurking, now feverishly stimulated. With regard to Sibyl, there
could be little doubt that Dymes had heard, or conjectured, the truth.
Sibyl was clever enough to make her perilous reverse a starting-point
for new social conquests. Were there but a hope of confronting her with
some fatal disclosure, and dragging her down, down!

That cheque must be sent. She would show Harvey the account this
evening, and have done with the unpleasantness of it. Probably he
remembered from time to time that she had never told him how her
business with Dymes was settled. No more duplicity. The money woul