feelings at his heart. He could have loved her in his way, could she
have been content to love him. Nay, he had loved her; and while she
was the acknowledged possession of another, he had thought that to
obtain her he would have been willing to give up many worldly goods.
Now he had obtained her; and there she sat, avowing to him that she
still loved his unsuccessful rival. It was no wonder that his brow
grew black, despite his own policy.

"And he has been here to-day in order that you might tell him so?"

"He has been here to-day, and I did tell him so," said Caroline,
looking still full up into her husband's eyes. "What brought him here
I cannot say."

"And you tell me this to my face?"

"Well; would you have me tell you a lie? Did I not tell you the same
when you first asked me to marry you? Did I not repeat it to you
again but a week before we were married? Do you think that a few
months could make the difference? Do you think that such months as
these have been could have effaced his memory?"

"And you mean, then, to entertain him as your lover?"

"I mean to entertain him not at all. I mean that he shall never again
enter any house in which I may be doomed to live. You brought him
here; and I--though I knew that the trial would be hard--I thought
that I could bear it. I find that I cannot. My memory is too clear;
my thoughts of other days too vivid; my remorse--"

"Go on, madam; pray go on."

"No, I shall not go on. I have said enough."

"Ah! you said more than that to him when he was here."

"Not half so much."

"Was he not kneeling at your feet?"

"Yes, sir, he did kneel at my feet;" and as she answered the question
she rose up, as though it were impossible for her any longer to sit
in the presence of a man who so evidently had set a spy upon her
actions.

"Well, and what then? Since you are so little ashamed of the truth,
tell it all."

"I am not at all ashamed of the truth. He came to tell me that he was
going--and I bade him go."

"And you allowed him to embrace you--to hold you in his arms--to kiss
you?"

"Ah me! yes--for the last time. He did kiss me. I feel his lips now
upon my brow. And then I told him that I loved him; loved none but
him; could love none other. Then I bade him begone; and he went. Now,
sir, I think you know it all. You seem to have had two accounts of
the interview; I hope they do not disagree?"

"Such audacious effrontery I never witnessed in my life--never hear