me, shall I?"

"If you wish," she replied, wearily. "I suppose I need the rest."

"Then I will look in upon some of my friends. I have almost lost the
run of city doings during my absence. Meantime, ring for anything you
may need, won't you?"

"I will ring;" and she looked, not at him, but at the bracket beyond.

"Then good-by, little sweetheart. It is now four; I will be with you
at six."

He embraced her tenderly, and went out with that _debonnair_ grace
which she had so loved. She looked after him with a hungry, hopeless
longing in her eyes.

"Oh, why does God make His foulest things the fairest?" she moaned.
"Why did He put love in our hearts if it must turn our lives to ashes?
Why must one be so young and yet so miserable? Oh, mother, mother, are
all women wronged like us?"

Madeline arose and commenced pacing the floor restlessly, nervously.
She had come here with no fixed purpose, nothing beyond the indefinite
determination to defy and thwart the man who had entrapped her. She
had never for a moment feared for her safety, or doubted her ability
to accomplish her object.

A plan was now taking shape in her mind, and as she pondered, she
extended her march, quite unthinkingly, on into the adjoining room,
the door of which stood invitingly open. The first object to attract
her attention was the light traveling coat which Lucian had worn on
the previous day; worn when he was pleading his suit under the trees
of Oakley; and in a burst of anger, as if it were a part of him she
was thinking of so bitterly, she seized and hurled it from her. As it
flew across the room, something fell from a pocket, almost at her
feet.

She looked down at it; it was a telegram, the one, doubtless, that had
called him back to the city the day before. A business matter, he had
said. Into her mind flashed the words of Olive Girard, "a professional
gambler." She would see what this "business" was. Stooping, she picked
up the crumpled envelope, and quickly devoured its contents.

Must see you immediately. Come by first train; am waiting at
your quarters.

CORA.

Madeline went back to the lighter, larger room, and seating herself,
looked about her. Again the words of Olive rung in her ears.

"Cora!" she ejaculated. "He obeyed her summons, and brought _me_ with
him. And she was here only last night--and where has she gone? This
must be the 'notorious,' the 'handsome.' Ah