saw Gladwyne as he really was--a betrayer of those who trusted
him, a counterfeit of an honorable type, one who had by the merest chance
escaped from crime.

In the second place, he was concerned about Bella. She had obviously been
attracted by Gladwyne, and it was his duty to warn her. Whether the
warning was altogether necessary he could not tell--he had watched her
face that morning--and Bella sometimes resented advice. When she did so,
she had an exasperating trick of putting him in the wrong; but he meant
to speak to her as plainly as appeared desirable. He had another duty--to
Lisle; but he was inclined to think that on the whole he had better not
saddle himself with it. His self-confidence had been rudely shaken and he
recognized the possibility of his making things worse. Moreover, he had
cultivated the pride of caste, and having with some difficulty obtained
an entry to the circle in which Gladwyne moved, he felt it incumbent on
him to guard the honor of all who belonged to it.

Presently Bella came out, as he had anticipated, and joined him.

"You have been very quiet since this morning," she began. "I saw that you
meant to slip away as soon as you could."

"Yes," he admitted; "I've had something to think about--I've been a fool,
Bella; the commonest, most easily gulled kind of imbecile!"

He had expected her to remind him that she had more than once tried to
convince him of this, but she failed to do so. Instead, she answered with
a touch of the candor that sometimes characterized her.

"You're not the only one."

This was satisfactory, for it suggested that she had been undeceived
about Gladwyne; but she had not finished.

"What did you see this morning?" she asked, and he felt that she was
speaking with keen anxiety.

"I'll tell you, but it must never go any farther. I hate to think of it!
But first of all, what makes you ask?"

She had already mentioned that she had been near when Gladwyne made his
attempt to come up with Lisle, but she had not explained that she had
seen hatred stamped in hideous plainness on his face.

"Never mind," she answered sharply. "Go on!"

"Well," said Jim, "I was standing right against the hedge, the only
person on that side, and I don't think Gladwyne saw me. Lisle's bay
fouled the top bar of the hurdle, but it held long enough to bring him
down in a heap. Gladwyne was then a length or two behind. He rode
straight at the broken hurdle, hands still--I can't get his