heaven only knows what mad impulse prompted me to do
a mean thing. Bah!" rising and stretching himself; "we are all fools or
knaves, or both; when a beautiful woman has dethroned reason and common
sense, and sways us body and soul. I wonder what Constance Wardour would
say if she knew? A keen witted detective takes me on trust; will she do
the same?"

There is little of the look of a despairing swain on his face, as he
concludes his soliloquy, and goes out to see that the outer door is
secure, before retiring. A trifle pale, a trifle bored, a trifle
cynical, and a trifle sleepy he looks. He also looks, for a man who has
just been indulging in a fit of severe self-depreciation, exceedingly
confident and full of faith in himself. And why not? Let that man
despair who has lost confidence in his own ability to wrest favors from
the fingers of Fate or Fortune. Despair is not for the brave.

CHAPTER VII.

A FALLING OUT.

Constance Wardour arose early on Sunday morning. In spite of youth,
health, and her splendid self-poise, she had slept but little; and such
slumber as had visited her eyelids, had been haunted by hideous dreams,
in which detectives and burglars mixed their identity in the most
remarkable manner; and through all, more vivid than all, shone the face
of Sybil Lamotte, always agonized, always appealing, always surrounded
by dark shadows, and always seeming menaced, terrified, helpless. Such
nights of tormented slumber, and uneasy wakefulness, were new to the
mistress of Wardour; and now, while the dew was yet on the grass and
flowers, she was promenading her pretty rose garden, where the sun shone
full, looking a trifle paler than was usual to her, and somewhat
dissatisfied.

Mrs. Aliston was still snugly ensconced in her bed, for she never rose
early, and always retired late, her motto being, "Mrs. Aliston first,
the world afterward." That lady of portly dimensions had her peculiar
theory of life. To eat the best food obtainable, and a great deal of it;
to wear the heaviest silks, and the softest cashmeres; and to sleep in
the downiest of beds; these were to her the necessities of life. That
the food was provided from the larder of her niece; that the silks and
cashmeres were gracious gifts, and that the downy couch cost her
nothing, mattered little; her niece needed her, she needed her niece;
_ergo_, her niece sought in every way possible to render her happy and
comfortable; and she, in return for