er ill-wishers, alone with what
should naturally have been tingling satisfaction in consciousness of
having administered yet another and (it was to be hoped) a final
stinging snub to that animal of a Trego.

Yet her gratification in the memory of the latter event was singularly
vapid, flat, and savourless.

They had been the last to leave the boudoir where, with the help of
her maid, Mrs. Gosnold was preoccupied with effort to restore her
kinswoman--that hapless victim of her own malevolence.

The others had been only too glad to disperse, following that
diversion which freed them from the open contempt of their hostess,
Sally and Trego. Lyttleton, indeed, had not hesitated to show his
spirit by taking to his heels down the corridor to his quarters when
Trego betrayed an inclination to follow him. And it was this
circumstance which had led to the discomfiture of Trego.

"A fine young specimen!" Trego commented with some disappointment,
louring after the rapidly retreating figure. "But wait," he suggested
ominously, "just wait till I catch him outside the house. I knew I did
wrong to let him off so easy last night. But I'll make up for it, all
right. Leave him to me!"

"I am not interested in your personal quarrels with Mr. Lyttleton,"
Sally told him frigidly. "Mine, if you please, I will settle for
myself in my own way. When I desire your interference, I shall notify
you. Till then--whatever the circumstances--I hope you will be good
enough not to speak to me under any circumstances whatever."

With this she had left him dashed and staring.

Now, in retrospection, she was alternately sorry that she had said as
much and that she had not said more. He had deserved either the cut
direct and absolute, or he had deserved a thoroughgoing, whole-hearted
exposition of his own despicable perfidy.

She could never forgive him--and, what was worse, she could never
forgive herself for the smart of her wounded pride, when she recalled
that shameful scene in the garden. She could not forgive herself for
caring one way or the other. She could not forgive herself for
admitting that she cared.

It was just this which rendered her position in Gosnold House
positively untenable, however firmly it might seem to have been
re-established by the events of the last half-hour.

It was just this which kept the girl from her pillow, buoyed by a
feverish excitement.

She could never stay at Gosnold House and continue on terms of any