, who, however, as she passed into the hall deigned to fling
back at him: "You are as full of mischief as a ripe cheese is of
maggots. I am going to take your opinion on a piece of mischief
presently."

Mr. Maynard, a stout, florid man of sixty, gave a great guffaw. "The old
girl always had her knife into you, Nugent," he roared, "but, like all
the rest of 'em, she can't do without you. Maggots in cheese! Lord love
me, what'll she say next."

He turned away to direct the chauffeur to the stable-yard, and Chermside
drew Nugent aside, saying, in a rapid whisper--

"I am not going on with the damned thing!"

Travers Nugent, if he felt surprise, did not show it; nor was there any
annoyance in his gently-murmured question: "You have counted the cost, I
presume? You understand what defection will entail?"

"Oh, yes; that beast Levison has taken care of that," replied Chermside.
"I am to meet him to-morrow night on the marsh at ten o'clock to give
him my final answer. But that was only to secure a day's respite,
and--and take leave of my friends. My mind is quite made up. I shall
withdraw, and let him do his worst."

Again there was no trace of disappointment in Nugent's reception of this
definite retirement. For an instant his right hand caressed his long,
fair moustache, while his cold blue eyes rested meditatively on the
slightly-flushed face of the recalcitrant, but the only note in his
voice was one of unselfish concern as he said----

"I am afraid you will find it very unpleasant, but I suppose that if you
have scruples you are right to act on them."

There was no time for more, for Montague Maynard, having seen to the
bestowal of the car and the chauffeur, came bustling back and conducted
his two guests to the dining-room, where the ladies joined them at the
luncheon table. Chermside managed to secure a seat next Violet, but in
such a small party there was no chance for intimate conversation. On the
whole, he was glad of it, for after to-day--to-morrow at latest--it was
improbable that he would ever see again the girl upon whom he would have
inflicted such deadly wrong. Even now, in the midst of lightest chatter,
she stabbed him over and over again with the frank confidence in her
trusting eyes. He felt with a shudder that if he had pursued his fell
mission to the end it would have been crowned with a horrible success.

Already his punishment had begun; he loved the woman whom he would have
destroyed, and in a