nd"--she clasped her hands in agony. "You surely understand."

"Yes," said Lambert in a low voice, and suddenly looked years older. "I
understand at last, Agnes. You shall no longer bear the burden alone. I
shall be a loyal friend to you, my dear," and he took her hand.

"Will you be a loyal friend to my husband?" she asked, withdrawing it.

"Yes," said Lambert, and he bit his lip. "God helping me, I will."

CHAPTER VI.

THE MAN AND THE WOMAN.

The interview between Lady Agnes and Lambert could scarcely be called a
love-scene, since it was dominated by a stern sense of duty. Chaldea,
lying at length amongst the crushed and fragrant flowers, herself in her
parti-colored attire scarcely distinguishable from the rainbow blossoms,
was puzzled by the way in which the two reined in their obvious
passions. To her simple, barbaric nature, the situation appeared
impossible. If he loved her and she loved him, why did they not run away
to enjoy life together? The husband who had paid money for the wife did
not count, nor did the brother, who had sold his sister to hide his
criminal folly. That Lady Agnes should have traded herself to save
Garvington from a well-deserved punishment, seemed inexcusable to the
gypsy. If he had been the man she loved, then indeed might she have
acted rightly. But having thrown over that very man in this silly
fashion, for the sake of what did not appear to be worth the sacrifice,
Chaldea felt that Agnes did not deserve Lambert, and she then and there
determined that the Gentile lady should never possess him.

Of course, on the face of it, there was no question of possession. The
man being weaker than the woman would have been only too glad to elope,
and thus cut the Gordian knot of the unhappy situation. But the woman,
having acted from a high sense of duty, which Chaldea could not rise to,
evidently was determined to continue to be a martyr. The question was,
could she keep up that pose in the face of the undeniable fact that she
loved her cousin? The listening girl thought not. Sooner or later the
artificial barrier would be broken through by the held-back flood of
passion, and then Lady Agnes would run away from the man who had bought
her. And quite right, too, thought Chaldea, although she had no notion
of permitting such an elopement to take place. That Agnes would hold to
her bargain all her life, because Hubert had fulfilled his part, never
occurred to the girl. She was not civi