cted his wife was towards her, so he kept his wish locked in
his own breast in order not to vex the faithful companion who lived,
thought, and felt for him alone; and Dame Neforis knew or guessed all
this, and said to herself that it would cost him his night's rest if he
were to be told at once what a concession Orion had made.

With Paula it was different. The sooner she learnt that she had nothing
to expect from their son, the better for her.

That very morning she and Orion had greeted each other like a couple
of lovers and just now they had parted like a promised bride and
bridegroom. She would not again be witness to such vexatious doings;
so she went to the young girl's room and confided to her with much
satisfaction the happy prospects her son had promised them,--only Paula
must say nothing about it till the day after to-morrow.

The moment she entered the room Paula inferred from her beaming
expression that she had something to say unpleasant to herself, so she
preserved due composure. Her face wore a look of unmoved indifference
while she submitted to the overflow of a too-happy mother's heart; and
she wished the betrothed couple joy: but she did so with a smile that
infuriated Neforis.

She was not on the whole spiteful; but face to face with this girl, her
nature was transformed, and she rather liked the idea of showing her,
once more in her life, that in her place humility would beseem her. All
this she said to herself as she quitted Paula's room; but perhaps this
woman, who had much that was good in her, might have felt some ruth, if
in the course of the next few hours she could but have looked into the
heart of the orphan entrusted to her protection. Only once did Paula
sob aloud; then she indignantly dried her tears, and sat for a long time
gazing at the floor, shaking her pretty head again and again as though
something unheard-of and incredible had befallen her.

At last, with a bitter sigh, she went to bed; and while she vainly
strove for sleep, and for strength to pray and be silently resigned,
Time seemed to her a wild-beast chase, Fate a relentless hunter, and the
quarry he was pursuing was herself.

CHAPTER IV.

On the following evening Haschim, the merchant, came to the governor's
house with a small part of his caravan. A stranger might have taken
the mansion for the home of a wealthy country-gentleman rather than the
official residence of a high official; for at this hour, after sunse