d she came. I met her at Marseilles. You wouldn't
believe, Mr. Hugo, how shocked she was by the news of her husband's
death. Possibly I didn't break it to her too neatly. She didn't pretend
to love him--never had done--but she was shocked all the same. I had a
terrible scene with her at the Hotel Terminus at Marseilles. Her whole
attitude towards the marriage changed completely. She insisted that it
was plain to her then that she had simply sold herself for money. She
said she hated herself. And she swore she would never touch a cent of
Tudor's fortune--not even if the fortune went to the Crown in default of
legal representatives.'

'Poor creature!' Hugo breathed.

'However,' Darcy proceeded, 'something had to be done. She was supposed
to be dead, and if her life was to be saved from Ravengar's vengeance,
she just had to continue to be dead--at any rate, as regards England. So
she couldn't go back to England. Now I must explain that my friend Tudor
hadn't left her with much money.'

'That was careless.'

'It was,' Darcy admitted. 'Still, he naturally relied on me in case of
necessity. And quite rightly. I was prepared to let Mrs. Tudor have all
the money she wanted, she repaying me as soon as events allowed her to
handle Tudor's estate. But as she had decided never to handle Tudor's
estate, she had no prospect of being able to repay me. Hence she would
accept nothing. Hence she began to starve. Awkward, wasn't it?'

'I see clearly that she could not come to England to earn her living,'
said Hugo, 'but could she not have earned it in Paris?'

'No,' Darcy replied; 'she couldn't earn it regularly. And the reason was
that she was too beautiful. Situation after situation was made
impossible for her. She might easily have married in Paris, but earn her
living there--no! In the end she was obliged to accept money from me,
but only in very small sums, such as she could repay without much
difficulty when Ravengar's death should permit her to return to England.
She was always sure of Ravengar's death, but she would never tell me
why. And now he's dead.'

'And there is no further obstacle to her coming to England?'

'None whatever. That is to say--except one.'

'What do you mean?' Hugo demanded.

Darcy had flushed.

'I'm in a very delicate position,' said Darcy. 'I've got to explain to
you something that a man can't explain without looking an ass. The fact
is--of course, you see, Mr. Hugo, I did all I could for her al