horns and--

I had reached the step on which she crouched. I could catch sight of the
child's eyes over her shoulder, a shoulder that quivered--was it with
the storm of the last interview, or with her fear of this? I would see.

Pausing, I said to her with every appearance of respect, but in my most
matter-of-fact tones:

"Mrs. Carew, may I request you to send Gwendolen down to the girl I see
below there? I have something to say to you before you leave."

_Gwendolen!_

With a start which showed how completely she was taken by surprise, Mrs.
Carew rose. She may have recognized my voice and she may not; it is hard
to decide in such an actress. Whether she did or not, she turned with a
frown, which gave way to a ravishing smile as her eyes met my face.

"You?" she said, and without any betrayal in voice or gesture that she
recognized that her hopes, and those of the friend to whose safety she
had already sacrificed so much, had just received their death-blow, she
gave a quick order to the girl who, taking the child by the hand, sat
down on the steps Mrs. Carew now quitted and laid herself out to be
amusing.

Gravely Mrs. Carew confronted me on the terrace below.

"Explain," said she.

"I have just come from Mrs. Ocumpaugh," I replied.

The veiled head dropped a trifle.

"She could not sustain herself! So all is lost?"

"That depends. But I must request you not to leave the country till Mr.
Ocumpaugh returns."

The flash of her eye startled me. "Who can detain me," she cried, "if I
wish to go?"

I did not answer in kind. I had no wish to rouse this woman's
opposition.

"I do not think you will want to go when you remember Mrs. Ocumpaugh's
condition. Would you leave her to bear the full burden of this deception
alone? She is a broken woman. Her full story is known to me. I have the
profoundest sympathy for her. She has only three days in which to decide
upon her course. I have advised her to tell the whole truth to her
husband."

"You!"

The word was but a breath, but I heard it Yet I felt no resentment
against this woman. No one could, under the spell of so much spirit and
grace.

"Did I not advise her right?"

"Perhaps, but you must not detain _me_. You must do nothing to separate
me from this child. I will not bear it. I have experienced for days now
what motherhood might be, and nothing on earth shall rob me of my
present rights in this child." Then as she met my unmoved countenance:
"If you k