rns to my door. I take no heed. It mews
persistently. At last, wearied of the noise, I open my door.
Always--by design, as I believe--at that very moment my wife flings her
door open. You see the position?"

"I can imagine it," said Dieppe, discreetly.

"We are face to face! Nothing between us except the passage--and the
cat! And then the Countess, with what I am compelled to term a
singular offensiveness, not to say insolence, of manner, slams the door
in my face, leaving me to deal with the cat as I best can! My friend,
it became intolerable. I sent a message begging the Countess to do me
the favour of changing her apartment.

"She declined point-blank. I determined then to change mine, and sent
word of my intention to the Countess." He flung himself into a chair.
"Her reply was to send back to me her marriage contract and her
wedding-ring, and to beg to be informed whether my present stay at the
Castle was likely to be prolonged."

"And you replied--?"

"I made no reply," answered the Count, crossing his legs.

A combination of feelings prevented Dieppe from disclosing the incident
of the previous night. He loved a touch of mystery and a possibility
of romance. Again, it is not the right thing for a guest to open
bolted doors. A man does not readily confess to such a breach of
etiquette, and his inclination to make a clean breast of it is not
increased when it turns out that the door in question leads to the
apartments of his host's wife.

Finally, the moment for candour had slipped by: you cannot allow a man
to explain a locality by means of forks and knives and pieces of bread
and then inform him that you were all the while acquainted with its
features. Dieppe was silent, and the Count, who was obviously upset by
the recital of his grievances, presently withdrew to his study, a room
on the upper floor which looked out on the gardens at the back of the
house.

"What did they quarrel about?" Dieppe asked himself; the Count had
thrown no light on that. "I 'll be hanged if I 'd quarrel with her,"
smiled the Captain, remembering the face he had seen at the other end
of the passage. "But," he declared to himself, virtuously, "the cat
may mew till it's hoarse--I won't open that door again." With this
resolve strong in his heart, he took his hat and strolled out into the
garden.

He had no sooner reached the front of the house than he gave an
exclamation of surprise. The expanse of rather roug