she had a pile of
money, though the fact had been kept dark in America. There was no
doubt about it, since his informant was a member of the legal firm who
had wound up her father's estate. By a stroke of good luck the girl was
staying at a summer camp with some of his own friends. He had
engineered an invitation, and was there at the moment of writing.

"Think of it, Evelyn--at that very moment I was, perhaps, sitting
innocently by his side. We used to scribble our letters together,
sitting out in the woods, and break off every few minutes to laugh and
chatter. Probably, after it was finished, we walked together to the
nearest post, and as we went he looked at me--_he looked_. Oh!"--she
winced in irrepressible misery--"is it _possible_--is it _possible_ that
any man could act so well? Can you wonder that I am hard and cold--that
I have so little sympathy for outside troubles? I was once as loving
and impetuous as you are yourself, but that shock turned me to stone.
It killed my faith in human nature!"

She was silent, struggling for composure, and I laid my hand on her
knee, and sat silent, not daring to speak. What was there to say? I
realised now how infinitely more bitter than death was the loss which
Charmion had to bear.

"Well,"--she roused herself to go on with her story--"you can imagine
the rest. `The heiress was,' he wrote, `_quite a possible girl_,' and
seemed `_agreeably disposed_'. There was evidently no previous
entanglement, and the circumstances were propitious. It was his
intention to go in and win. If it came off he would be in a position to
pay up old scores and to start life afresh. It would be worth giving up
his liberty, to end the everlasting worry of the last ten years. The
letter ended with more promises and his signature. No loophole of doubt
was left, you see. There could be no mistaking that signature. I had
been married exactly two weeks, and had believed myself the happiest
woman in the world. I now discovered that I had been tracked down by an
adventurer, who had married me only because, unfortunately, it was
impossible to get hold of my fortune without putting up with me at the
same time."

"What did he say, how did he look, when you told him about your money
and the settlement? Of course, you _had_ told him by that time."

"Not much. Very little indeed. I thought at the time that he was
overwhelmed, and a little sorry that the wealth was on my side. Looking