another husband, an excellent man of
ancient family and possessions, who had given her a title, in which she
much rejoiced.

At this the countenance of the poor foreign gentleman became cold as
clay, and his heart withered within him; for as it had been her beauty
and bearing which had led him to sin to obtain her, so, now that her
beauty was in fuller bloom, and her manner more haughty by her success,
did he feel her fascination to be almost more than he could bear.
Nevertheless, having sworn his word, he undertook to obey her commands,
which were simply a renewal of her old request--that he would depart for
some foreign country, and never reveal his existence to her friends, or
husband, or any person in England; never trouble her more, seeing how
great a harm it would do her in the high position which she at present
occupied.

He bowed his head. 'And the child--our child?' he said.

'He is well,' says she. 'Quite well.'

With this the unhappy gentleman departed, much sadder in his heart than
on his voyage to England; for it had never occurred to him that a woman
who rated her honour so highly as Maria had done, and who was the mother
of a child of his, would have adopted such means as this for the
restoration of that honour, and at so surprisingly early a date. He had
fully calculated on making her his wife in law and truth, and of living
in cheerful unity with her and his offspring, for whom he felt a deep and
growing tenderness, though he had never once seen the child.

The lady returned to her mansion beyond Wintoncester, and told nothing of
the interview to her noble husband, who had fortunately gone that day to
do a little cocking and ratting out by Weydon Priors, and knew nothing of
her movements. She had dismissed her poor Anderling peremptorily enough;
yet she would often after this look in the face of the child of her so-
called widowhood, to discover what and how many traits of his father were
to be seen in his lineaments. For this she had ample opportunity during
the following autumn and winter months, her husband being a matter-of-
fact nobleman, who spent the greater part of his time in field-sports and
agriculture.

One winter day, when he had started for a meet of the hounds a long way
from the house--it being his custom to hunt three or four times a week at
this season of the year--she had walked into the sunshine upon the
terrace before the windows, where there fell at her feet some little