ing him at a moment's notice. Time and
absence, and trying to do what is right, are the only cures. If it were
not that Sir Christopher and Lady Cheverel would be displeased and
puzzled at your wishing to leave home just now, I would beg you to pay a
visit to my sister. She and her husband are good creatures, and would
make their house a home to you. But I could not urge the thing just now
without giving a special reason; and what is most of all to be dreaded is
the raising of any suspicion in Sir Christopher's mind of what has
happened in the past, or of your present feelings. You think so too,
don't you, Tina?'

Mr. Gilfil paused again, but Caterina said nothing. She was looking away
from him, out of the window, and her eyes were filling with tears. He
rose, and, advancing a little towards her, held out his hand and said,
--'Forgive me, Caterina, for intruding on your feelings in this way. I
was so afraid you might not be aware how Miss Assher watched you.
Remember, I entreat you, that the peace of the whole family depends on
your power of governing yourself. Only say you forgive me before I go.'

'Dear, good Maynard,' she said, stretching out her little hand, and
taking two of his large fingers in her grasp, while her tears flowed
fast; 'I am very cross to you. But my heart is breaking. I don't know
what I do. Good-bye.'

He stooped down, kissed the little hand, and then left the room.

'The cursed scoundrel!' he muttered between his teeth, as he closed the
door behind him. 'If it were not for Sir Christopher, I should like to
pound him into paste to poison puppies like himself.'

Chapter 10

That evening Captain Wybrow, returning from a long ride with Miss Assher,
went up to his dressing-room, and seated himself with an air of
considerable lassitude before his mirror. The reflection there presented
of his exquisite self was certainly paler and more worn than usual, and
might excuse the anxiety with which he first felt his pulse, and then
laid his hand on his heart.

'It's a devil of a position this for a man to be in,' was the train of
his thought, as he kept his eyes fixed on the glass, while he leaned back
in his chair, and crossed his hands behind his head; 'between two jealous
women, and both of them as ready to take fire as tinder. And in my state
of health, too! I should be glad enough to run away from the whole
affair, and go off to some lotos-eating place or other where there are no
women, or