y as he read these last words.

"Not while a society paper exists!" he said to himself. "As long as
there are editors willing to accept the word of a responsible man of
position, for any report, the chastest Diana that ever lived shall not
escape calumny! She wants proofs, does she? She shall have them--by
Jove! she shall!"

And instead of going to bed, he went off to a bijou villa in St. John's
Wood,--an elegantly appointed little place, which he rented and
maintained,--and where the popular personage known as Violet Vere,
basked in the very lap of luxury.

Meanwhile, Thelma paced up and down her own boudoir, into which she had
escaped through the sliding panel which had baffled her admirer. Her
whole frame trembled as she thought of the indignity to which she had
been subjected during her brief unconsciousness,--her face burned with
bitter shame,--she felt as if she were somehow poisonously infected by
those hateful kisses of Lennox,--all her womanly and wifely instincts
were outraged. Her first impulse was to tell her husband everything the
instant he returned. It was she who had rung the bell which had startled
Sir Francis, and she was surprised that her summons was not answered.
She rang again, and Britta appeared.

"I wanted Morris," said Thelma quickly.

"He thought it was the drawing-room bell," responded Britta meekly, for
her "Froeken" looked very angry. "I saw him in the hall just now, letting
out Sir Francis Lennox."

"Has he gone?" demanded Thelma eagerly.

Britta's wonder increased. "Yes, Froeken!"

Thelma caught her arm. "Tell Morris never, never to let him inside the
house again--_never_!" and her blue eyes flashed wrathfully. "He is a
wicked man, Britta! You do not know how wicked he is!"

"Oh yes, I do!" and Britta regarded her mistress very steadfastly. "I
know quite well! But, then, I must not speak! If I dared, I could tell
you some strange things, dear Froeken--but you will not hear me. You know
you do not wish me to talk about your grand new friends, Froeken, but--"
she paused timidly.

"Oh, Britta, dear!" said Thelma affectionately taking her hand. "You
know they are not so much my friends as the friends of Sir Philip,--and
for this reason I must never listen to anything against them. Do you not
see? Of course their ways seem strange to us--but, then, life in London
is so different to life in Norway,--and we cannot all at once
understand--" she broke off, sighing a little. Then she re