rain
yourself. What a Medea you would make!"

She looked at him with a glance which had the menace of a hunted animal
brought suddenly to bay, and ready from very despair to defend
itself--in moments like that many a desperate woman has stained her soul
with crime--but her companion betrayed no uneasiness.

"You don't like me to say complimentary things to you," he said; "it is
unkind to deprive me even of that pleasure."

"I have no time to waste," she said, controlling herself by a strong
effort, and speaking in a cold, measured tone. "I came to tell you that
you must wait--I can't give you the money to-day--if you were successful
with those cards you can afford to be patient."

"My dear friend," returned he, "you know how anxious I am--how I desire
to put the ocean between me and this accursed country."

"You will not go when you get the money," she said; "you will drink,
gamble--leave yourself without a penny."

"So harsh always in your judgments," he returned, deprecatingly.

"I have no hope of escaping you," she went on; "but I have one
consolation--you are ruining me, and that will be your own destruction!
My husband suspects me--watches me--the day he discovers a shadow of the
truth, there is an end to these extortions."

"Don't speak so angrily--my dear lady! I hardly think your husband would
refuse to listen to reason--your proud men will do a great deal to
procure silence where a lady is concerned."

"You know that he would not be silent! With his home once broken up, his
peace destroyed, he would be utterly careless of the world's
knowledge--his wrongs and his revenge would lead him to desperate
measures."

"Is it possible? What an unpleasant character! Well, well, we must take
pains that he is not enlightened--that is the way--you see how very
simple it is."

"I warn you, this is the last money I shall give you for years," she
said; "it is only from having these stocks in my hands that I am able to
do it now."

"My dear friend, you forget; your husband may give you more stocks," he
returned, with a laugh which made her shrink with abhorence.

"Mr. Forbes has promised me the money this week--that will be in time
for the steamer."

"How coldly you betray anxiety to have me gone!" he said; "it is really
cruel."

"I have no idea that you will go," she returned; "you will spend the
money--you will demand more--my husband will discover it. But at least I
shall have the satisfaction of knowing