his arm round her,
she was powerless to contradict him in anything. She had so far
acknowledged this that she no longer struggled with him, but allowed
her hand to remain quietly within his. If there was no going back
from this bargain that had been made,--why, then, there was no need
for combating. And when he stooped over and kissed her lips, she had
not a word to say. "Be good to me," he said, "and tell me that I am
right."

"You must be master, I suppose, whether you are right or wrong. A man
always thinks himself entitled to his own way."

"Why, yes. When he has won the battle, he claims his captive. Now,
the truth is this, I have won the battle, and your friend, Miss
Petrie, has lost it. I hope she will understand that she has been
beaten at last out of the field." As he said this, he heard a step
behind them, and turning round saw Wallachia there almost before he
could drop his arm.

"I am sorry that I have intruded on you," she said very grimly.

"Not in the least," said Mr. Glascock. "Caroline and I have had a
little dispute, but we have settled it without coming to blows."

"I do not suppose that an English gentleman ever absolutely strikes a
lady," said Wallachia Petrie.

"Not except on strong provocation," said Mr. Glascock. "In reference
to wives, a stick is allowed as big as your thumb."

"I have heard that it is so by the laws of England," said Wallachia.

"How can you be so ridiculous, Wally!" said Caroline. "There is
nothing that you would not believe."

"I hope that it may never be true in your case," said Wallachia.

A couple of days after this Miss Spalding found that it was
absolutely necessary that she should explain the circumstances of her
position to Nora. She had left Nora with the purpose of performing
a very high-minded action, of sacrificing herself for the sake of
her lover, of giving up all her golden prospects, and of becoming
once again the bosom friend of Wallachia Petrie, with this simple
consolation for her future life,--that she had refused to marry
an English nobleman because the English nobleman's condition was
unsuited to her. It would have been an episode in female life in
which pride might be taken;--but all that was now changed. She had
made her little attempt,--had made it, as she felt, in a very languid
manner, and had found herself treated as a child for doing so. Of
course she was happy in her ill success; of course she would have
been broken-hearted had she s