, even if I could trust you. I have
had no other husband, no other love; you have married. I would not trust
myself; my love is as great now as ever it was, but it shall not run
away with me; it shall not be my master. I will master it. You must not
come near me."

"But, surely, if I meet you in the street, you will not ask me to pass
you by?" he said.

"No; if we meet quite by chance, quite by accident, I will always speak
to you. Ah, Lance," she added, with a smile, "I know you so well, I know
every look in your eyes; you are thinking to yourself you will often see
me by accident. You must not; such honor as you have left me let me
keep."

"If this is to be our last interview, for some time, at least," he
continued, "tell me, Leone, how is it that you have become so famous?"

"Yes, I will tell you all about that; I am rather proud of my power. It
is not a long story, and it dates from the day on which your mother sent
me that letter."

She told him all her studies, her struggles, her perseverance, her
success, finally her crowning by fame.

"It is like a romance," he said.

"Yes, only it is true," she replied.

He tried to prolong the interview, but she would close it; and he was
compelled to leave her, when he would have given years of his life to
have remained one hour longer.

CHAPTER XLI.

"LET US BE FRIENDS."

"Lance," said the sweet voice of Lady Marion, plaintively, "I am
beginning to have a faint suspicion about you."

"Indeed. Your suspicions are not faint as a rule. What is this?"

"I am afraid that you are growing just a little tired of me," said the
beautiful queen of blondes.

"What makes you think so?" he asked, trying to laugh, as he would have
done a few weeks since at such an accusation.

"Several reasons. You are not so attentive to me as you used to be; you
do not seem to listen when I speak; you have grown so absent-minded; and
then you say such strange things in your sleep."

He looked grave for half a minute, then laughed carelessly.

"Do I? Then I ought to be ashamed of myself. Men talk enough in their
waking hours without talking in their sleep. What do I say, Marion?"

He asked the question carelessly enough, but there was an anxious look
in his dark eyes.

"I cannot tell; I hardly remember," said Lady Chandos; "but you are
always asking some one to forgive you and see you. Have you ever
offended any one very much, Lance?"

"I hope not," he replied. "Dreams a