ith the free hand of one at ease with himself
and the world. For one thing, he was uncertain as to the reception he
should meet with.

Mr. Carr came to the door himself; his clerk was out. When he saw who was
his visitor he stood in comic surprise. Val stepped in, extending his
hand; and it was heartily taken.

"You are not offended with me, then, Carr?"

"Nay," said Mr. Carr, "I have no reason to be offended. Your sin was not
against me."

"That's a strong word, 'sin.'"

"It is spoken," was the answer; "but I need not speak it again. I don't
intend to quarrel with you. I was not, I repeat, the injured party."

"Yet you took yourself off in dudgeon, as though you were, leaving me
without a groomsman."

"I would not remain to witness a marriage that--that you ought not to
have entered upon."

"Well, it's done and over, and need not be brought up again," returned
Hartledon, a shade of annoyance in his tones.

"Certainly not. I have no wish or right to bring it up. How is Lady
Hartledon?"

"She is very well. And now what has kept you away, Carr? We have been in
London nearly a fortnight, and you've never been near me. I thought you
_were_ going to quarrel."

"I did not know you had returned."

"Not know it! Why all the newspapers had it in amongst the 'fashionable
intelligence.'"

"I have more to do with my time than to look at the fashionable portion
of the papers. Not being fashionable myself, it doesn't interest me."

"Yes, it's about a fortnight since we came back to this hateful place,"
returned Hartledon, his light tone subsiding into seriousness. "I am out
of conceit with England just now; and would far rather have gone to the
Antipodes."

"Then why did you come back to it?" inquired the barrister, in surprise.

"My wife gave me no choice. She possesses a will of her own. It is the
ordinary thing, perhaps, for wives to do so."

"Some do, and some don't," observed Thomas Carr, who never flattered at
the expense of truth. "Are you going down to Hartledon?"

"Hartledon!" with a perceptible shiver. "In the mind I am in, I shall
never visit Hartledon again; there are some in its vicinity I would
rather not insult by my presence. Why do you bring up disagreeable
subjects?"

"You will have to get over that feeling," observed Mr. Carr, disregarding
the hint, and taking out his probing-knife. "And the sooner it is got
over the better for all parties. You cannot become an exile from your own
place. A