was unthinkable, since to ruin
Richard--a thing he would have done with a light heart so far as Richard
was himself concerned--would be to ruin his own hopes of winning Ruth.

Therefore, during the days that followed, Sir Rowland was forced to
fret in idleness what time his wound was healing; but if his arm was
invalided, his eyes and ears were sound, and he remained watchful for an
opportunity to apply the knowledge he had gained. Richard mentioned the
subject no more, so that Blake almost came to wonder whether the boy
remembered what in his cups he had betrayed.

Meanwhile Mr. Wilding moved serene and smiling on his way. Daily there
were great armfuls of flowers deposited at Lupton House--his lover's
offering to his mistress--and no day went by but that some richer gift
accompanied them. Now it was a collar of brilliants, anon a rope of
pearls, again a priceless ring that had been Mr. Wilding's mother's.
Ruth received with reluctance these pledges of his undesired affection.
It were idle to reject them, considering that she was to marry him; yet
it hurt her sorely to retain them. On her side she made no dispositions
for the marriage, but went about her daily tasks as though she were to
remain a maid at Lupton House for a time as yet indefinite.

In Diana, Wilding had--though he was far from guessing it--an entirely
exceptional ally. Lady Horton, too, was favourably disposed towards him.
A foolish, worldly woman, who never probed beneath life's surface, nor
indeed dreamed that anything existed in life beyond that to which her
five senses testified, she was content placidly to contemplate the
advantages that must accrue to her niece from this alliance.

And so mother and daughter in Mr. Wilding's absence pleaded his cause
with his refractory bride-elect. But they pleaded it to little real
purpose. Something perhaps they achieved in that Ruth grew more or
less resigned to the fate that awaited her. By repeating to herself the
arguments she had employed to Richard--that she must wed some day, and
that Mr. Wilding would prove no doubt as good a husband as another--she
came in a measure to believe them.

Richard meanwhile appeared to avoid her. Lacking the courage to adopt
the heroic measures which at first he had promised, yet had he grace
enough to take shame at his inaction. But if he was idle so far as
Mr. Wilding was concerned, there was no lack of work for him in other
connections. The clouds of war were gatherin