--but one only hears of such
practices towards fortunate rivals, and now you have come to undo what
you did! I must admit, that taking the monstrousness of the act and the
inconsequence of your proceedings together, the whole affair becomes
more incomprehensible to me than it was before. Would it be unpleasant
to you to favour me with explanations?'

She saw the pain her question gave him, and, passing it, said:

'Of course you need not be told that Rose must hear of this?'

'Yes,' said Evan, 'she must hear it.'

'You know what that 's equivalent to? But, if you like, I will not speak
to her till you, have left us.'

'Instantly,' cried Evan. 'Now-to-night! I would not have her live a
minute in a false estimate of me.'

Had Lady Jocelyn's intellect been as penetrating as it was masculine,
she would have taken him and turned him inside out in a very short time;
for one who would bear to see his love look coldly on him rather than
endure a minute's false estimate of his character, and who could yet
stoop to concoct a vile plot, must either be mad or simulating the
baseness for some reason or other. She perceived no motive for the
latter, and she held him to be sound in the head, and what was spoken
from the mouth she accepted. Perhaps, also, she saw in the complication
thus offered an escape for Rose, and was the less inclined to elucidate
it herself. But if her intellect was baffled, her heart was unerring.
A man proved guilty of writing an anonymous letter would not have been
allowed to stand long in her room. She would have shown him to the door
of the house speedily; and Evan was aware in his soul that he had not
fallen materially in her esteem. He had puzzled and confused her, and
partly because she had the feeling that this young man was entirely
trustworthy, and because she never relied on her feelings, she let his
own words condemn him, and did not personally discard him. In fact, she
was a veritable philosopher. She permitted her fellows to move the world
on as they would, and had no other passions in the contemplation of the
show than a cultured audience will usually exhibit.

'Strange,--most strange! I thought I was getting old!' she said, and
eyed the culprit as judges generally are not wont to do. 'It will be a
shock to Rose. I must tell you that I can't regret it. I would not have
employed force with her, but I should have given her as strong a taste
of the world as it was in my power to give. Girls ge