a, "and used to think of it as
very probable indeed; but now a ray of light has been let into my
mind, and I see what manner of man he is. That boy"--and she again
pointed to the portrait--"was the one who misled me. Such a one as he
might have been so animated by hate that he might keep away so as not
to be forced to see his detested wife. But this man is different.
This soldier, this ruler, this mature man--who or what is his wife,
hated though she be, or what is she to him in any way, that _she_
should prove the slightest obstacle in the path of one like _him_? He
would meet her as her lord and master, and brush her away as he would
a moth."

"You draw this absent man in grand colors," said Gualtier. "Perhaps,
my lady, your imagination is carrying you away. But if he is all this
that you say, how can you venture to meet him? Will you risk being
thus 'brushed away,' as you say, 'like a moth?'"

Hilda's eyes lighted up. "I am not one who can be brushed away," said
she, calmly; "and, therefore, whatever he is, and whenever he comes,
I will be prepared to meet him."

Hilda's tone was so firm and decided that it left no room for further
argument or remonstrance. Nor did Gualtier attempt any. Some
conversation followed, and he soon took his departure.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

FACE TO FACE.

Some time passed away after the conversation related in the last
chapter, and one evening Hilda was in her boudoir alone, as usual.
She was somewhat paler, more nervous, and less calm than she had been
a few months previously. Her usual stealthy air had now developed
into one of wary watchfulness, and the quiet noiselessness of her
actions, her manner, and her movements had become intensified into a
habit of motionless repose, accompanied by frequent fits of deep
abstraction. On the present occasion she was reclining on her couch,
with her hand shading her eyes. She had been lying thus for some
time, lost in thought, and occasionally rousing herself sharply from
her meditations to look around her with her watchful and suspicious
eyes. In this attitude she remained till evening came, and then, with
the twilight, she sank into a deep abstraction, one so deep that she
could not readily rouse herself.

It was with a great start, therefore, that she rose to her feet as a
sudden noise struck her ears. It was the noise of a carriage moving
rapidly up through the avenue toward the house. For a carriage to
come to Chetwynde Castle at