and shall know it
to-morrow; not from you, but from me."

Mrs. Presty shook her head compassionately. "My good sir, surely you
know me too well to think that I am to be disposed of in that easy
way? Must I remind you that your wife's mother has 'the cunning of the
devil'?"

Linley recognized his own words. "So you were listening among the
trees!" he said.

"Yes; I was listening; and I have only to regret that I didn't hear
more. Let us return to our subject. I don't trust my daughter's
interests--my much-injured daughter's interests--in your hands. They
are not clean hands, Mr. Linley. I have a duty to do; and I shall do it
to-morrow."

"No, Mrs. Presty, you won't do it to-morrow."

"Who will prevent me?"

"I shall prevent you."

"In what way, if you please?"

"I don't think it necessary to answer that question. My servants will
have their instructions; and I shall see myself that my orders are
obeyed."

"Thank you. I begin to understand; I am to be turned out of the house.
Very well. We shall see what my daughter says."

"You know as well as I do, Mrs. Presty, that if your daughter is forced
to choose between us she will decide for her husband. You have the night
before you for consideration. I have no more to say."

Among Mrs. Presty's merits, it is only just to reckon a capacity for
making up her mind rapidly, under stress of circumstances. Before Linley
had opened the door, on his way out, he was called back.

"I am shocked to trouble you again," Mrs. Presty said, "but I don't
propose to interfere with my night's rest by thinking about _you_.
My position is perfectly clear to me, without wasting time in
consideration. When a man so completely forgets what is due to the
weaker sex as to threaten a woman, the woman has no alternative but to
submit. You are aware that I had arranged to see my daughter to-morrow
morning. I yield to brute force, sir. Tell your wife that I shall not
keep my appointment. Are you satisfied?"

"Quite satisfied," Linley said--and left the room.

His mother-in-law looked after him with a familiar expression of
opinion, and a smile of supreme contempt.

"You fool!"

Only two words; and yet there seemed to be some hidden meaning in
them--relating perhaps to what might happen on the next day--which
gently tickled Mrs. Presty in the region assigned by phrenologists to
the sense of self-esteem.

Chapter XII. Two of Them Sleep Badly.

Waiting for Sydney to come into t