rt him?'

'I shall not try to comfort him. I shall bid him do his duty. Comfort
will come to him in no other way.'

'Shall you speak to him of me?'

'Yes, certainly. If I have any influence, I shall bring him to you
before an hour is over.'

Then she caught his hand and the blood rushed to her face.

'God bless you for this!' she whispered. 'Go; do not keep me waiting.
Go, for Heaven's sake!'

'You must promise me one thing first: that you will control yourself.
Think of him, of the day and the night he has passed. He will not be fit
for any scene. If you reproach him, you will only send him from you
again.'

'I will promise anything--everything--if you will only bring him.' And
now her eyes were wet; it seemed as though he had given her new life.
She sat erect; she was no longer like a marble image of despair. 'If I
can only see him, if he will let me speak to him! but it is this
emptiness--this blank, this dreadful displeasure--that is shutting me
out from him, that is killing me by inches.'

And here she put her hand to her throat, as though the words suffocated
her.

'Be calm and quiet, and all may yet be well,' he returned in a soothing
voice; 'I will do what I can for you and him too.' And with a reassuring
look he left her.

What had become of his dislike? He felt he no longer disliked her. She
was false--falser than he had thought any woman could be; she had
qualities that he detested, faults that he, of all men, was most ready
to condemn; but the one spark of goodness that redeemed her in his eyes
was her love for her son.

He knocked somewhat lightly at Cyril's door, but there was no answer;
but as he repeated it more loudly, Cyril's voice impatiently demanded
his business.

'It is I--Burnett. Will you let me speak to you a moment, Blake?'

And then the door was unlocked, and Cyril stood aside to let him enter;
but he uttered no greeting, neither did Michael at once offer his hand.
He threw a hasty glance round the room as Cyril relocked the door; the
bed had not been slept in that night--that was plainly evident--but the
crushed pillow and the rug flung across the foot proved clearly that he
had thrown himself down fully dressed when weariness compelled him.

He had evidently only just completed his toilet: the shirt he had thrown
aside was still on the floor, in company with his bath towels; and
something in his appearance made Michael say: 'You were just going out.
I hope I am not keeping