dy Saxonby would be sure to talk, and the Club would
be ruined."

"So you came away?"

"Yes. Eva was horribly upset--you know her nerves are all wrong--and she
fainted dead away in the hall and they had to send for a doctor and we
took her home ... and altogether," said Toni, breaking at last into
tears, "it was a fearful scene, and I wish I'd never gone near the
Club!"

"I wish to God you hadn't!" Owen sprang up, more upset than he cared to
confess. He could visualize the whole scene: Vivian, with her beautiful,
scornful face, taunting Eva, playing the hypocrite with Toni, and
sending insulting messages to the man she had jilted; and the mere
thought of the talk, the gossip, the raking up of old stories which
would inevitably follow, set all his nerves jarring furiously.

Even the sight of Toni's tears did not soften his heart. Rather he felt
exasperated with her, since it was her folly which had precipitated the
whole scene.

"Come, don't cry," he said rather curtly. "You've done a very silly
thing, and goodness knows where it will end; but it's no use crying and
making yourself ill."

Naturally his tone did not tend to set his wife at ease; and she cried
the more.

"Oh, for goodness' sake, stop!" Owen felt himself to be a brute, but the
thought of Vivian's malice was gall to his spirit. "The mischief's done,
and crying won't undo it. But I hope you've learned a lesson, Toni; I
always told you it was a mistake to go about with that woman, and you
wouldn't believe me. Well, now you see what's happened. You've made us
both ridiculous in the eyes of the world, and we shall be more severely
ostracized than ever."

Suddenly Toni's tears ceased and she raised her head to stare at him.

"You mean people will be horrid--to you--about it?"

"Well, naturally, they'll think me a fool for encouraging you," said
Owen rather irritably. "If only you would have been guided by me! But
it's been the same all through. You chose to go your own way, and the
end will be that we shall have to leave Greenriver and go to live
somewhere else."

"Leave Greenriver?" She echoed the words dully.

"Well, what can we do?" He spoke impatiently. "You have never seemed
very happy here, so far as the people go. And now, after this _fiasco_,
we may expect the neighbourhood to drop us altogether."

"Drop us?"

"Well, you know what I mean. Oh, I don't care two straws about the
people themselves. They're a stupid lot anyway, and too conve