d shown any disposition to be cruel, or
even unjust, Amherst's sympathies would have rushed instantly to his
wife's defence; but the fact that there was apparently to be no call on
them left his reason free to compare and discriminate, with the final
result that the more he pondered on his father-in-law's attitude the
less intelligible it became.

A few days after Justine's return he was called to New York on business;
and before leaving he told her that he should of course take the
opportunity of having a talk with Mr. Langhope.

She received the statement with the gentle composure from which she had
not departed since her return from town; and he added tentatively, as if
to provoke her to a clearer expression of feeling: "I shall not be
satisfied, of course, till I see for myself just how he feels--just how
much, at bottom, this has affected him--since my own future relation to
him will, as I have already told you, depend entirely on his treatment
of you."

She met this without any sign of disturbance. "His treatment of me was
very kind," she said. "But would it not, on your part," she continued
hesitatingly, "be kinder not to touch on the subject so soon again?"

The line deepened between his brows. "Touch on it? I sha'n't rest till
I've gone to the bottom of it! Till then, you must understand," he
summed up with decision, "I feel myself only on sufferance here at
Westmore."

"Yes--I understand," she assented; and as he bent over to kiss her for
goodbye a tenuous impenetrable barrier seemed to lie between their lips.

* * * * *

It was Justine's turn to await with a passionate anxiety her husband's
home-coming; and when, on the third day, he reappeared, her dearly
acquired self-control gave way to a tremulous eagerness. This was, after
all, the turning-point in their lives: everything depended on how Mr.
Langhope had "played up" to his cue; had kept to his side of their bond.

Amherst's face showed signs of emotional havoc: when feeling once broke
out in him it had full play, and she could see that his hour with Mr.
Langhope had struck to the roots of life. But the resultant expression
was one of invigoration, not defeat; and she gathered at a glance that
her partner had not betrayed her. She drew a tragic solace from the
success of her achievement; yet it flung her into her husband's arms
with a passion of longing to which, as she instantly felt, he did not as
completely respo