ks I am a little
crazy?" she said quietly to herself. "Some women in my place would have
gone mad years ago. Perhaps it might have been better for _me?"_ She
looked up again at Amelius. "I believe you are a good-tempered fellow,"
she went on. "Are you in your usual temper now? Did you enjoy your
lunch? Has the lively company of the young ladies put you in a good
humour with women generally? I want you to be in a particularly good
humour with me."

She spoke quite gravely. Amelius, a little to his own astonishment,
found himself answering gravely on his side; assuring her, in the most
conventional terms, that he was entirely at her service. Something in
her manner affected him disagreeably. If he had followed his impulse, he
would have jumped out of the cab, and have recovered his liberty and his
light-heartedness at one and the same moment, by running away at the top
of his speed.

The driver turned into the street in which Mr. Farnaby's house was
situated. Mrs. Farnaby stopped him, and got out at some little distance
from the door. "You think the young ones will follow us back," she said
to Amelius. "It doesn't matter, the servants will have nothing to tell
them if they do." She checked him in the act of knocking, when they
reached the house door. "It's tea-time downstairs," she whispered,
looking at her watch. "You and I are going into the house, without
letting the servants know anything about it. _Now_ do you understand?"

She produced from her pocket a steel ring, with several keys attached to
it. "A duplicate of Mr. Farnaby's key," she explained, as she chose one,
and opened the street door. "Sometimes, when I find myself waking in
the small hours of the morning, I can't endure my bed; I must go out
and walk. My key lets me in again, just as it lets us in now, without
disturbing anybody. You had better say nothing about it to Mr. Farnaby.
Not that it matters much; for I should refuse to give up my key if he
asked me. But you're a good-natured fellow--and you don't want to make
bad blood between man and wife, do you? Step softly, and follow me."

Amelius hesitated. There was something repellent to him in entering
another man's house under these clandestine conditions. "All right!"
whispered Mrs. Farnaby, perfectly understanding him. "Consult your
dignity; go out again, and knock at the door, and ask if I am at home.
I only wanted to prevent a fuss and an interruption when Regina comes
back. If the servants don'