u give me her address in Paris?

"Willingly--if you will promise not to go to her till she really needs
you?"

"Who is to decide when she needs me?"

"I am to decide," Mrs. Vimpany answered; "Iris writes to me
confidentially. If anything happens which she may be unwilling to trust
to a letter, I believe I shall hear of it from her maid."

"Are you sure the maid is to be relied on?" Mountjoy interposed.

"She is a silent creature, so far as I know anything of her," Mrs.
Vimpany admitted; "and her manner doesn't invite confidence. But I have
spoken with Fanny Mere; I am satisfied that she is true to her mistress
and grateful to her mistress in her own strange way. If Iris is in any
danger, I shall not be left in ignorance of it. Does this incline you
to consult with me, before you decide on going to Paris? Don't stand on
ceremony; say honestly, Yes or No."

Honestly, Hugh said Yes.

He was at once trusted with the address of Iris. At the same time, Mrs.
Vimpany undertook that he should know what news she received from Paris
as soon as she knew it herself. On that understanding they parted, for
the time being.

CHAPTER XXV

THE DOCTOR IN DIFFICULTIES

SLOWLY the weeks passed. Strictly Mrs. Vimpany kept her promise.

When she heard from Iris the letter was always sent to Hugh, to be
returned after he had read it. Events in the lives of the newly-married
pair, many of which pointed to the end that Mrs. Vimpany saw and
dreaded, were lightly, sometimes jestingly, related by the young wife.
Her blind belief in her husband, sincerely asserted in the earlier part
of the correspondence, began to betray, in her later letters, signs of
self delusion. It was sad indeed to see that bright intelligence
rendered incapable of conceiving suspicions, which might have occurred
to the mind of a child.

When the latest news from Paris followed, in due course, Mountjoy was
informed of it by a note from Mrs. Vimpany expressed in these terms:

"My last letter from Iris is really no letter at all. It simply
encloses a circular, with her love, and asks me to send it on to you.
If it is in your power to make inquiries in the right quarter, I am
sure you will not hesitate to take the trouble. There can be little
doubt, as I think, that Lord Harry is engaged in a hazardous
speculation, more deeply than his wife is willing to acknowledge."

The circular announced the contemplated publication of a weekly
newspaper, printed partly