s lately, but it had never been
anything like the reality. And Mabel still suspected nothing. There
was a touch of comedy of a ghastly kind in the situation, which gave
Vincent a grim amusement, and he felt a savage pleasure, of which he
was justly ashamed later, in developing it.

'I have been trying to explain to your wife,' he said at last, 'that I
have been away so long that I could hardly hope you would remember the
relations between us.'

Mark made some reply to this; he did not know what.

'At least,' Vincent continued calmly, 'I may congratulate you upon the
success of your book. I should have done so when we met the other day
if I had understood then that you were the author. Your modesty did
not allow you to mention it, and so I discover it later.'

Mark said nothing, though his dry lips moved.

'When you met!' cried Mabel in wonder. 'Did _you_ know Vincent was
alive then, Mark? And you never told me!'

'He naturally did not think it would interest you, you see,' said
Vincent.

'No,' said Mabel, turning to Mark, 'you couldn't know that Vincent had
once been almost one of the family; I forgot that. If you had only
thought of telling me!'

The two men were silent again, and Mabel felt hurt and disappointed at
Vincent's want of cordiality. He seemed to take it for granted that he
had been forgotten. He would thaw presently, and she did her best to
bring this about by all the means in her power, in her anxiety that
the man she respected should do justice to the man she loved.

That conversation was, as far as Mark was concerned, like the one
described in 'Aurora Leigh'--

'Every common word
Seemed tangled with the thunder at one end,
And ready to pull down upon their heads
A terror out of sight.'

The terror was close at hand when Mabel said, in the course of her
well-meant efforts to bring them into conversation, 'It was quite by
accident, do you know, Mark, that Vincent should have met us here at
all; he was on his way to find some man who has---- I forget what you
said he had done, Vincent.'

'I don't think I went into particulars,' he replied. 'I described him
generally as a scoundrel. And he is.'

'I hope you were able to find that out before he could do you any
injury?' said Mabel.

'Unfortunately, no,' he said. 'When I found out, the worst was done.'

'Would you rather not talk about it,' she continued, 'or do you mind
telling us how you were treated?'