he truth, then. He turned to the bookstall and began to idly
read the posters. "Postponement of a fashionable wedding. Bride taken
dangerously ill," he read.

"Another religious lie," and he laughed bitterly. "These pious people
know how to hush up things by fraud."

He bought a paper, and got into the train which was just entering the
station. He had the carriage all to himself, and so was able to read the
news unobserved. He was not long in finding the paragraph he desired.

"Postponement of wedding," he read. "The marriage between Radford
Leicester, Esq., and Miss Olive Castlemaine, which was arranged for
yesterday, has been indefinitely postponed, owing to the serious illness
of the latter. The large number of guests who had been invited to The
Beeches received an early intimation that the wedding would not take
place, and on inquiries as to the reason, we are informed that Miss
Castlemaine was taken seriously ill a few hours before the time
announced for the nuptials. We are also given to understand that Miss
Castlemaine has been ordered out of England for a lengthened stay, and
that, accompanied by her father and her maid, they left London for the
Continent last night. The reason of the sudden illness of the bride is
causing much discussion in the neighbourhood of Miss Castlemaine's
home."

Leicester threw the paper from him with an oath. "Lies, lies, lies!" he
muttered. "And she connives at them. She the Sunday-school teacher, the
immaculate one. She threw me over because her pride was wounded, but she
could tell lies in order to hide the truth. Oh, what a blithering fool
I've been! Why did I not--but there----! What's the use of anything?"

"It's all over now," he went on presently. "That chapter is written, the
play's played out. Is it, though? Shall I be beaten in this way? The
truth concerning this affair is bound to become known. People are not
going to be fooled by a bungling report like this. Taken seriously ill
in the morning, and off to the Continent in the evening! Bah, even the
British public is not so blind as that!

"Well, what now? Shall I tamely submit to this? In a few days I shall be
the laughing-stock of every one who knows me. Perhaps I am now. Purvis
and Sprague are by this time enjoying themselves hugely. For it is they
who have done this. One or both of them, it does not matter. But I'll
settle my accounts with them. As for her----!"

He ground his teeth together, and his eyes shone l