morning. 'A bloater!' cried Patty.
'Then I hope you won't ask me to cook it for you. I can't bear them.'
'Oh, very well: if you can't cook a bloater, you're not the wife for
me.' And there they broke off, for good and all."

"Which means for a month or two, I suppose."

"Impossible to say. But I have advised her as strongly as I could not
to marry until she knows her own mind better. It is too bad of her to
have gone so far. The poor man had taken rooms, and all but furnished
them. Patty's a silly girl, I'm afraid."

"Wants a strong man to take her in hand--like a good many other girls."

Eve paid no attention to the smile.

"Paris spoilt her for such a man as Mr. Dally. She got all sorts of new
ideas, and can't settle down to the things that satisfied her before.
It isn't nice to think that perhaps we did her a great deal of harm."

"Nonsense! Nobody was ever harmed by healthy enjoyment."

"Was it healthy--for _her_? That's the question."

Hilliard mused, and felt disinclined to discuss the matter.

"That isn't the only news I have for you," said Eve presently. "I've
had another letter."

Her voice arrested Hilliard's step as he paced near her.

"I had rather not have told you anything about it, but I promised. And
I have to give you something."

She held out to him a ten-pound note.

"What's this?"

"He has sent it. He says he shall be able to pay something every three
months until he has paid the whole debt. Please to take it."

After a short struggle with himself, Hilliard recovered a manly bearing.

"It's quite right he should return the money, Eve, but you mustn't ask
me to have anything to do with it. Use it for your own expenses. I gave
it to you, and I can't take it back."

She hesitated, her eyes cast down,

"He has written a long letter. There's not a word in it I should be
afraid to show you. Will you read it--just to satisfy me? Do read it!"

Hilliard steadily refused, with perfect self-command.

"I trust you--that's enough. I have absolute faith in you. Answer his
letter in the way you think best, and never speak to me of the money
again. It's yours; make what use of it you like."

"Then I shall use it," said Eve, after a pause, "to pay for a lodging
in Birmingham. I couldn't live much longer at home. If I'm here, I can
get books out of the library, and time won't drag so. And I shall be
near you."

"Do so, by all means."

As if more completely to dismiss the unpleasant subject