silent no longer.

"Does he see no difference," she broke out, "between his position and
mine? What consolation--in God's name, what consolation is left to me
for the rest of my life but my child? And he threatens to separate us
for six months in every year! And he takes credit to himself for an act
of exalted justice on his part! Is there no such thing as shame in the
hearts of men?"

Under ordinary circumstances, her mother would have tried to calm her.
But Mrs. Presty had turned to the next page of the letter, at the moment
when her daughter spoke.

What she found written, on that other side, produced a startling effect
on her. She crumpled the letter up in her hand, and threw it into the
fireplace. It fell under the grate instead of into the grate. With
amazing activity for a woman of her age, she ran across the room to burn
it. Younger and quicker, Mrs. Linley got to the fireplace first, and
seized the letter. "There is something more!" she exclaimed. "And you
are afraid of my knowing what it is."

"Don't read it!" Mrs. Presty called out.

There was but one sentence left to read: "If your maternal anxiety
suggests any misgiving, let me add that a woman's loving care will watch
over our little girl while she is under my roof. You will remember how
fond Miss Westerfield was of Kitty, and you will believe me when I tell
you that she is as truly devoted to the child as ever."

"I tried to prevent you from reading it," said Mrs. Presty.

Mrs. Linley looked at her mother with a strange unnatural smile.

"I wouldn't have missed this for anything!" she said. "The cruelest of
all separations is proposed to me--and I am expected to submit to it,
because my husband's mistress is fond of my child!" She threw the letter
from her with a frantic gesture of contempt and burst into a fit of
hysterical laughter.

The old mother's instinct--not the old mother's reason--told her what
to do. She drew her daughter to the open window, and called to Kitty to
come in. The child (still amusing herself by fishing in the lake) laid
down her rod. Mrs. Linley saw her running lightly along the little
pier, on her way to the house. _That_ influence effected what no other
influence could have achieved. The outraged wife controlled herself,
for the sake of her child. Mrs. Presty led her out to meet Kitty in
the garden; waited until she saw them together; and returned to the
breakfast-room.

Herbert Linley's letter lay on the floor; his