."

"And Lonsdale will go up to London purposely to have the delight of
telling it at the clubs."

"Sarah!"

"And the 'Daily Whisper' will get Lonsdale's most delectable version,
and blow it with the four winds of heaven to the four corners of the
civilized world."

"Sarah Sandys, I--"

"Worse still! that poor girl whom you treated so abominably, must
suffer the whole thing over again. Her name will be put as the head
and front of your offending. All her sorrows and heartbreak will be
made a penny mouthful for country bumpkins and scandalous gammers to
'Oh!' and 'Ah!' over. Ulfar, if you are a man, you will not give her a
moment's terror of such consequences. You may see that she fears
them, by her sending her brother to entreat your absence."

"And I must be called coward and runaway!"

"Let them call you anything they like, so that you spare her further
shame and sorrow."

"Your talking in this fashion to me, Sarah, is very like Satan
correcting sin. I loved Aspatria when I met you in Rome."

"Of course! Adam always has his Eve ready. 'Not my fault, good people!
Look at this woman! With her bright smiles and her soft tongue she
beguiled me; and so I fell!' We can settle that question, you and
I, again. Now you must ring the bell, and order your horse--say,
at four o'clock to-morrow morning. You can have nearly six hours'
sleep,--quite enough for you."

"You have not convinced me, Sarah."

"Then you must ride now, and be convinced afterward. For your sister's
sake and for Aspatria's sake, you will surely go away."

Lady Redware was crying, and she cried a little harder to emphasize
Sarah's pleading. Ulfar was in a hard strait. He looked angrily at the
handsome little woman urging him to do the thing he hated to do, and
then taking the kerchief from his sister's face, he kissed her, and
promised to leave Redware at dawn of day.

"But," said he, "if you send me away now, I tell you, our parting is
likely to be for many years, perhaps for life. I am going beyond
civilization, and so beyond scandal."

"Do not flatter yourself so extravagantly, Ulfar. There is scandal
everywhere, and always has been, even from the beginning. I have no
doubt those nameless little sisters of Cain and Abel were talked about
unpleasantly by their sisters and brothers-in-law. In fact, wherever
there are women there are men glad to pull them down to their own
level."

"Is it not very hard, then, that I am not to be permitted