ation. He had been originally intended for a
doctor, he said, had passed his medical examinations, and been qualified
to practise. Then, at the last minute, a chance opening had presented
itself, and he had gone into finance instead.

"After that," he somewhat sarcastically said, "I gave myself up to the
all absorbing business of money-making. And doctoring became merely my
fad, my amusement, my recreation--whatever you please to call it."

"I wish you had told me," Nina said, in a low voice.

At which remark he merely shrugged his shoulders, making no rejoinder.

She felt hurt by his manner and said no more. Only later there came to
her the memory of the man she feared, standing in the doorway of the
matron's room with a little child in his arms. Somehow that picture was
very vividly impressed upon her mind.

XI

MONEY'S NOT EVERYTHING

"What! You are coming too?"

Nina stopped short on her way to the car and gazed at her husband in
amazement.

He had returned early from the City, and she now met him dressed to
attend a garden-party whither she herself was going.

He bent his head in answer to her surprised question.

"I shall give myself the pleasure of accompanying you," he said, with
much formality.

She coloured and bit her lip. Swift as evil came the thought that he
resented her intimacy with Archie and was determined to frustrate any
attempt on their part to secure a _tete-a-tete_.

"You take great care of me," she said, with a bitter little smile.

Wingarde made no response; his face was quite inscrutable.

They scarcely spoke during the drive, and she kept her face averted.
Only when he held out his hand to assist her to alight she met his eye
for an instant and wondered vaguely at the look he gave her.

The party was a large one; the lawns were crowded. Nina took the first
opportunity that offered to slip away from him, for she felt hopelessly
ill at ease in his company. The sensation of being watched that had
oppressed her during her brief honeymoon had reawakened.

Archie presently joined her.

"Did I see the hero of the Crawley gold field just now?" he asked. "Or
was it hallucination?"

Nina looked at him with a very bored expression.

"Oh, yes, my husband is here," she said. "I suppose you had better not
stay with me or he will come up and be rude to you."

Archie chuckled.

"Not he! We understand one another," he said lightly. "But, I say, what
an impostor the fellow is