at he had not come with good news.

She smiled faintly, but when she sat down she put her hand to her
forehead.

"Am I pale, then?" she answered. "I suppose I must be. It is nothing
but a trifle of headache, and," with a hesitant laugh, "that I half
fancied you had come to tell me something unpleasant."

He was silent for a moment,--so silent that she looked up at him with a
startled face.

"It _is_ something unpleasant!" she exclaimed. "You have come with ill
news, and you are afraid to begin."

"Not so bad as that,--not afraid, but rather reluctant," he answered.
"It is _not_ pleasant news; and but that I felt it would be wisest to
warn you at once, I would rather any one else had brought it. I have
stumbled upon a disagreeable report."

"Report!" Dolly echoed, and her thoughts flew to Mollie again.

"Don't be alarmed," he said. "It is only a disagreeable one because
the subject of it has managed to connect himself with some one whose
happiness we value."

Dolly rose from her chair and stood up, turning even paler than before.

"This some one whose happiness we value is Mollie," she said. "And the
report you have heard is about Mr. Gerald Chandos. Am I not right?"

"Yes," he returned, "you are right. The hero of the report is Gerald
Chandos."

"What has he been doing?" she asked, 'sharply. "Don't hesitate, please.
I want to know."

He was evidently both distressed and perplexed. He took two or three
hurried steps across the room, as if to give himself a little extra time
to settle his words into the best form. But Dolly could not wait.

"Mr. Gowan," she said, "what has that man been doing?"

He turned round and answered her.

"He has been passing himself off to your brother as an unmarried man,"
he said.

She slipped back into her chair again, and wrung her hands passionately.

"And he is married?" she demanded. "Oh! how was it you did not know
this?''

"Not one in ten of Mr. Gerald Chandos's friends know it," he returned.
"And I am only a chance acquaintance. It is not an agreeable story to
tell, if what report says is true. Remember, it is only report as yet,
and I will not vouch for it. It is said that the marriage was the end
of a boyish folly, and that the happy couple separated by mutual consent
six months after its consummation. The woman went to California, and
Chandos has not seen her since, though he hears of her whereabouts
occasionally."

"And you are not quite sure yet that the re