ng heard you say so much as you have said. Go
away, please. No, I will go--I will go."

And she did go.

He found himself standing in the middle of an empty room.

Never before had he been so treated by man or woman; and the worst of
the matter was that he had an uneasy feeling that he had deserved the
scorn which she had heaped upon him. He knew perfectly well that he had
no right to speak to her as he had spoken regarding her friend, Ella
Linton. Rumor--what right had he to suggest to her, as he had certainly
done, that the evil rumors regarding her friend were believed by him at
least?

Yes, he felt that she had treated him as he deserved; and when he
tried to get up a case for himself, so to speak, by dwelling upon the
injustice which she had done him in saying that he had been actuated by
vanity, whereas he knew that he had been sincere, he completely failed.

But his greatest humiliation was due to a consciousness of his own want
of tact. Any man may forget himself so far as to lose his temper upon
occasions; but no man need hope to get on in the world who so far
forgets himself as to allow other people to perceive that he has lost
his temper.

What was he to do?

What was left for him to do but to leave the house with as little delay
as possible?

He went down the stairs, and a footman opened the hall door for him.
He felt a good deal better in the open air. Even the large drawing room
which he had left was beginning to feel stuffy. (He was a singularly
sensitive man.)

On reaching the rectory he found two letters waiting for him. One from
the bishop requesting an early interview with him. The other was almost
identical but it was signed "Stephen Linton."

CHAPTER XXVI.

DID HE SAY SOMETHING MORE ABOUT RUTH?

Herbert Courtland had found his way to her drawing room on the afternoon
of his return to London; and it was upon this circumstance rather than
upon her own unusual behavior in the presence of George Holland that
Phyllis was dwelling so soon as she had recovered from her tearful
outburst on her bed. (She had, of course, run into her bedroom and
thrown herself upon the bed the moment that she had left the presence of
the man whom she had once promised to marry.) She had wept in the sheer
excitement of the scene in which she had played the part of leading
lady; it had been a very exciting scene, and it had overwhelmed her; she
had not accustomed herself to the use of such vehement language