t to dinner, dazzled and delighted her with a present of jewelry,
enchanted her with assurances of his love. But when her manner
insinuated an inclination to yield, he lost interest, and wrote
saying he was forced to leave town. Soon after, he wrote to a certain
actress proposing to write a play for her. The proposal was not made
with a view to deceiving her, but rather in the intention of securing
their liaison against caprice, by involving in it various mutual
advantages. For three weeks they saw each other frequently; he
wondered if he loved her, he dreamed of investing his talents in her
interest, and so rebuilding the falling edifice of his life.

"I could crush an affection out of my heart as easily as I could kill
a fly," she said.

"Ah!" he said, "my heart is as empty as a desert, and no affection
shall enter there again."

An appointment was made to go out to supper, but he wrote saying he
was leaving town to be married. Nor was his letter a lie. After long
hesitations he had decided on this step, and it seemed to him clear
that no one would suit him so well as Mrs. Byril. By marrying an old
mistress, he would save himself from all the boredom of a honeymoon.
And sitting in the drawing-room, in the various pauses between
numerous licentious stories, they discussed their matrimonial
project.

Dear Emily, who said she suffered from loneliness and fear of the
future as acutely as he, was anxious to force the matter forward. But
her eagerness begot reluctance in Mike, and at the end of a week, he
felt that he would sooner take his razor and slice his head off, than
live under the same roof with her.

In Regent Street one evening he met Frank Escott. After a few
preliminary observations Mike asked him if he had heard lately from
Lord Mount Rorke. Frank said that he had not seen him. All was over
between them, but his uncle had, however, arranged to allow him two
hundred a year. He was living at Mortlake, "a nice little house; our
neighbour on the left is a city clerk at a salary of seventy pounds a
year, on the right is a chemist's shop; a very nice woman is the
chemist's wife; my wife and the chemist's wife are fast friends. We
go over and have tea with them, and they come and have tea with us.
The chemist and I smoke our pipes over the garden wall. All this
appears very dreadful to you, but I assure you I have more real
pleasure, and take more interest in my life, than ever I did before.
My only trouble is