him in that box, stamped "Monk's
aerophone. The Twin. No. 3412."

No; he had but one ambition left. To pierce the curtain of thick night
and behold her who was lost to him; her who loved him as man had been
seldom loved.

The fierce temptation struck him as a sudden squall strikes a ship with
all her canvas spread. For a moment mast and rigging stood the strain,
then they went by the board. He would do it if it killed him; but the
task must be undertaken properly, deliberately, and above all in secret.
To-morrow he would begin. When he had satisfied himself; when he had
seen; then he could always stop.

A few minutes later Morris stood beside his wife's bed. There she
lay, in the first perfection of young motherhood and beauty, a lovely,
white-wrapped vision with straying golden hair; her sweet, rounded face
pink with the flush of sleep, and the long lashes lying like little
shadows on her cheek.

Morris looked at her, and his doubts returned. What would Stella say?
he thought to himself. It almost seemed to him that he could hear her
voice, bidding him forbear; bidding him render unto his wife those
things which were his wife's: all honour, loyalty, and devotion. If he
entered on this course could he still render them? Was there not such
a thing as moral infidelity, and did not such exercises as he proposed
partake of its nature? Perhaps, perhaps. On the whole it might be well
to put all this behind him.

It was three o'clock, he was tired out, and must sleep. The morning
would be a more fitting time to ponder such weighty questions of the
unwritten matrimonial law.

In due course, the morning came--indeed, it was not far off--and with
it wiser counsels. Mary woke early and talked about the baby, which was
teething; indeed, so soon as the nurse was up she sent for it that the
three of them might hold a consultation over a swollen gum. Also she
discussed the date of their departure to Beaulieu, for again Christmas
was near at hand; adding, however, somewhat to Morris's relief, that
unless the baby's teeth went on better she really did not think that
they could go, as it would be most unwise to take her out of the care
of Dr. Charters and trust her to the tender mercies of foreign leeches.
Morris agreed that it might be risky, and mentioned that in a letter
which he had received from the concierge at Beaulieu a few days before,
that functionary said that the place was overrun with measles and
scarlatina.

"Mor