tolerant of advice; but she would
never be selfish. If she could be convinced that her departure would be
beneficial to the man she loved, she would certainly leave him, though
it broke her heart to go.

"No, of course not." Eva spoke a trifle vaguely. "But you couldn't go,
Toni. It would be impossible. Why, your husband would think you were
mad."

"Would he? Perhaps I am." Toni's smile was a little melancholy.
"Sometimes I think this is all a dream--that I'm not Owen's wife at
all--that Greenriver and the gardens and everything else are merely
imagination. I can't believe it's true. If it is, how is it that
everything has gone so terribly, horribly wrong?"

She paused, gazing before her with puzzled eyes.

"I thought once that if I married Owen I should be the happiest girl in
the world. But I'm not. I'm the most miserable. I--sometimes I wish--oh,
I don't know what I wish!"

"Come, Toni"--Eva rose as though to change the subject--"you mustn't be
so despondent. Let me ring the bell--it's nearly five, and I'm sure you
want a cup of tea."

"Not yet, Eva." In Toni's voice was a new note, a note of decision,
which Eva's ear was quick to detect. "When you say I should go away with
another man, who had you in your mind?"

A moment Eva waited. Then:

"I meant the man who has the misfortune to adore you, Toni, the man who
gave up everything, his practice, his prospects, London, everything, for
your sake. You know the man I mean. You know as well as I do that
Leonard Dowson adores the very ground you walk on."

"Leonard Dowson!" Toni smiled drearily. "Think of leaving _Owen_ for
Leonard Dowson!"

"Oh, I know he's not in the same class," said Eva, with ostentatious
frankness, "and I don't for a moment suppose he would make you happy.
I'm afraid I wasn't thinking much of you, dear, when I mentioned his
name. Somehow I forgot that you have as much right to happiness as
anyone."

"_My_ happiness doesn't matter," said Toni for the second time. "But I
think you are wrong, Eva. Mr. Dowson never thinks of me--now."

"Doesn't he?" Eva permitted herself to smile. "My dear child, he's just
crazy about you. He told me all about it one day when you weren't
there--how he'd loved you for years and years and was heart-broken when
you refused him. He only came down here to be near you, and if you would
only smile on him a little he would do anything in the world for you."

"He wouldn't give up his work for me, Eva."

"Ah, you