aft, its baseness,
and its wickedness. No arts or wiles of hers could avail to blind him
to these things. This she knew and felt, but still she hoped against
hope, and entertained vague expectations of some final understanding
between them.

But what was the business on which he was engaged? What was it that
thus led him so constantly to his solicitors? This was the problem
that puzzled her. Various solutions suggested themselves. One was
that he was merely anxious to see about breaking the entail so as to
pay her back the money which General Pomeroy had advanced. This he
had solemnly promised. Perhaps his long search through his father's
papers had reference to this, and his business with his solicitors
concerned this, and this only. This seemed natural. But there was
also another solution to the problem. It was within the bounds of
possibility that he was taking measures for a divorce. How he could
obtain one she did not see, but he might be trying to do so. She
knew nothing of the divorce law, but had a general idea that nothing
except crime or cruelty could avail to break the bonds of marriage.
That Lord Chetwynde was fixed in his resolve to break all ties
between them was painfully evident to her; and whatever his immediate
purpose might now be, she saw plainly that it could only have
reference to this separation. It meant that, and nothing else. He
abhorred her, and was determined to get rid of her at all hazards.
This she plainly saw.

At length, after a few weeks' absence, Gualtier returned. Hilda, full
of impatience, sent for him to the morning-room almost as soon as he
had arrived, and went there to wait for his appearance. She did not
have to wait long. In a few minutes Gualtier made his appearance,
obsequious and deferential as usual.

"You are back alone," said she, as she greeted him.

"Yes; Lord Chetwynde is coming back tomorrow or next day, and I
thought it better for me to come back first so as to see you before
he came."

"Have you found out any thing more?"

"No, my lady. In my letters I explained the nature of the case. I
made all the efforts I could to get at the bottom of this business,
and to find out what you called the purpose of his life. But you see
what insuperable obstacles were in the way. It was absolutely
impossible for me to find out any thing in particular about his
affairs. I could not possibly gain access to his papers. I tried to
gain information from one of the clerks of Pe