stood for a moment in silence, hesitating. "Why is
it that he and you do not speak?"

"How can I answer that question, Lady Laura?"

"Do you know any reason? Sit down, or, if you please, I will get up
and walk with you. He tells me that you have chosen to quarrel with
him, and that I have made you do so. He says that you have confessed
to him that I have asked you to quarrel with him."

"He can hardly have said that."

"But he has said it,--in so many words. Do you think that I would
tell you such a story falsely?"

"Is he here now?"

"No;--he is not here. He would not come. I came alone."

"Is not Miss Effingham with you?"

"No;--she is to come with my father later. She is here no doubt, now.
But answer my question, Mr. Finn;--unless you find that you cannot
answer it. What was it that you did say to my husband?"

"Nothing to justify what he has told you."

"Do you mean to say that he has spoken falsely?"

"I mean to use no harsh word,--but I think that Mr. Kennedy when
troubled in his spirit looks at things gloomily, and puts meaning
upon words which they should not bear."

"And what has troubled his spirit?"

"You must know that better than I can do, Lady Laura. I will tell you
all that I can tell you. He invited me to his house and I would not
go, because you had forbidden me. Then he asked me some questions
about you. Did I refuse because of you,--or of anything that you had
said? If I remember right, I told him that I did fancy that you would
not be glad to see me,--and that therefore I would rather stay away.
What was I to say?"

"You should have said nothing."

"Nothing with him would have been worse than what I did say. Remember
that he asked me the question point-blank, and that no reply would
have been equal to an affirmation. I should have confessed that his
suggestion was true."

"He could not then have twitted me with your words."

"If I have erred, Lady Laura, and brought any sorrow on you, I am
indeed grieved."

"It is all sorrow. There is nothing but sorrow. I have made up my
mind to leave him."

"Oh, Lady Laura!"

"It is very bad,--but not so bad, I think, as the life I am now
leading. He has accused me--, of what do you think? He says that you
are my lover!"

"He did not say that,--in those words?"

"He said it in words which made me feel that I must part from him."

"And how did you answer him?"

"I would not answer him at all. If he had come to me like a man,--not
a