ys, always he was under obligations to the end.

And now, alone, abandoned, helplessly sick, utterly dependent upon the
decency, the charity, the mercy of her legal paramour, the young girl
who had once been his wife had not turned to him in vain.

Before the light of her shaken mind had gone out she had written him,
incoherently, practically _in extremis_; and if he had hitherto doubted
where his duty lay, from that moment he had no longer any doubt. And
very quietly, hopelessly, and irrevocably he had crushed out of his soul
the hope and promise of the new life dawning for him above the dead
ashes of the past.

* * * * *

It was not easy to do; he had not ended it yet. He did not know how.
There were ties to be severed, friendships to be gently broken, old
scenes to be forgotten, memories to kill. There was also love--to be
disposed of. And he did not know how.

First of all, paramount in his hopeless trouble, the desire to save
others from pain persisted.

For that reason he had been careful that Gerald should not know where
and how he was now obliged to live--lest the boy suspect and understand
how much of Selwyn's little fortune it had taken to settle his debts of
"honour" and free him from the sinister pressure of Neergard's
importunities.

For that reason, too, he dreaded to have Austin know, because, if the
truth were exposed, nothing in the world could prevent a violent and
final separation between him and the foolish boy who now, at last, was
beginning to show the first glimmering traces of character and common
sense.

So he let it be understood that his address was his club for the
present; for he also desired no scene with Boots, whom he knew would
attempt to force him to live with him in his cherished and brand-new
house. And even if he cared to accept and permit Boots to place him
under such obligations, it would only hamper him in his duties.

Because now, what remained of his income must be devoted to Alixe.

Even before her case had taken the more hopeless turn, he had understood
that she could not remain at Clifton. Such cases were neither desired
nor treated there; he understood that. And so he had taken, for her, a
pretty little villa at Edgewater, with two trained nurses to care for
her, and a phaeton for her to drive.

And now she was installed there, properly cared for, surrounded by every
comfort, contented--except in the black and violent crises which