their
backs upon him, and go beyond his reach.

He laid his hand upon her, and the touch, the look in his eyes, drove
Lilian to the last refuge.

"You must go with me, then, to Mr. Quarrier," she said, firmly. "You
have no power to stop me. I shall go home, and you must follow me, if
you choose."

"No, you will go with _me_! Do you hear? I command you to come with me!"

It was his best imitation of resistless authority, and he saw, even in
speaking, that he had miscalculated. Lilian drew back a step and looked
at him with defiance.

"Command me, you cannot. I am as free from your control as any
stranger."

"Try, and see. If you attempt to go back into the town, I shall hold
you by force, and the consequences will be worse to you than to me. Do
as you please."

Again her eyes turned to the distant roof of Peartree Cottage. She,
too, had estimated her strength and his. She knew by instinct what his
face meant--the swollen, trembling lips, the hot eyes; and understood
that he was capable of any baseness. To attempt to reach her home would
be an abandonment of all hope, the ruin of Denzil. A means of escape
from worst extremity, undiscoverable by her whirling brain, might
suggest itself to such a mind as Mrs. Wade's. If only she could
communicate with the cottage!

"Then I shall go to my friend here," she said, pointing.

He hesitated.

"Who is she?"

"A lady who lives quite alone."

"What's the good of your going there?"

She had recourse to artifice, and acted weakness much better than he
had simulated strength.

"I _must_ have some one's advice! I must know how others regard your
claim."

He saw no possibility of restraining her, and it might befall that this
lady, intentionally or not, would use her influence on his side. Those
last words signified a doubt in Lilian's mind. Was it not pretty
certain that any respectable woman, on learning how matters stood, must
exclaim against that pretended marriage? Northway's experience lay
solely among the representatives of English morality, and the frankly
vicious; he could hardly imagine a "lady" whose view of the point at
issue would admit pleas on Lilian's behalf.

"If you go there," he said, "I must be with you."

Lilian made no answer, but moved away. They passed into the road,
tinned towards the cottage. On reaching the gate, Lilian saw Mrs. Wade
standing just before her.

"I must speak to you" she said, holding out her hands impulsively.

Mrs.