old
brute as they make 'em. The girl took a deep dislike to Lord Stavornell
the minute she saw him; knew his reputation, and refused to receive him.
That's the very reason he determined to marry her, humble her pride, as
it were, and repay her for her scorn of him.

"He got her father into his clutches, deliberately, of course, lent him
money, took his I O U's for card debts and all that sort of thing, until
the old brute was up to his ears in debt and with no prospect of paying
it off. Of course, when he'd got him to that point, Stavornell demanded
the money, but finally agreed to wipe the debt out entirely if the
daughter married him. They went at her, poor creature, those two, with
all the mercilessness of a couple of wolves. Her father would be
disgraced, kicked out of the army, barred from all the clubs, reduced to
beggary, and all that, if she did not yield; and in the end they so
played upon her feelings, that to save him she gave in; Stavornell took
out a special license, and they were married. Of course, the man never
cared for her; he only wanted his revenge on her, and they say he led
her a dog's life from the hour they came back to England from their
honeymoon."

"Poor creature!" said Cleek sympathetically. "And what became of the
other chap, the lover she wanted to marry and who was out in India at
the time all this happened?"

"Oh, they say he went on like a madman when he heard it. Swore he'd kill
Stavornell, and all that, but quieted down after a time, and accepted
the inevitable with the best grace possible. Crawford is his name. He
was a lieutenant at the time, but he's got his captaincy since, and I
believe is on leave and in England at present--as madly and as
hopelessly in love with the girl of his heart as ever."

"Why 'hopelessly,' Mr. Narkom? Such a man as Stavornell must have given
his wife grounds for divorce a dozen times over."

"Not a doubt of it. There isn't a judge in England who wouldn't have set
her free from the scoundrel long ago if she had cared to bring the case
into the courts. But Lady Stavornell is a strong Church-woman, my dear
fellow; she doesn't believe in divorce, and nothing on earth could
persuade her to marry Captain Crawford so long as her first husband
still remained alive."

"Oho!" said Cleek. "Then Fifi's husband isn't the only man with a
grievance and a cause? There's another, eh?"

"Another? I expect there must be a dozen, if the truth were known.
There's on