e."

He took from the table a piece of paper. He had actually made notes upon
it.

"Do not be alarmed by this formality," he said. "I wish to spare words.
If you consent to the performance of a private ceremony you will not be
required to see me again unless you yourself request it. I have a quiet
place in a remote part of Scotland where you can live with Dowie to take
care of you. Dowie can be trusted and will understand what I tell her.
You will be safe. You will be left alone. You will be known as a young
widow. There are young widows everywhere."

Her eyes had not for a moment left his. By the time he had ended they
looked immense in her thin and white small face. Her old horror of him
had been founded on a false belief in things which had not existed, but
a feeling which has lasted almost a lifetime has formed for itself an
atmosphere from whose influence it is not easy to escape. And he stood
now before her looking as he had always looked when she had felt him to
be the finely finished embodiment of evil. But--

"You are--doing it--for Donal," she faltered.

"You yourself would be doing it for Donal," he answered.

"Yes. And--I do not matter."

"Donal's wife and the mother of Donal's boy or girl matters very much,"
he gave back to her. He did not alter the impassive aloofness of his
manner, knowing that it was better not to do so. An astute nerve
specialist might have used the same method with a patient.

There was a moment or so of silence in which the immense eyes gazed
before her almost _through_ him--piteously.

"I will do anything I am told to do," she said at last. After she had
said it she turned and looked at the Duchess.

The Duchess held out both her hands. They were held so far apart that it
seemed almost as if they were her arms. Robin swept towards the broad
footstool but reaching it she pushed it aside and knelt down laying her
face upon the silken lap sobbing soft and low.

"All the world is covered with dead--beautiful boys!" her sobbing said.
"All alone and dead--dead!"

CHAPTER XX

No immediate change was made in her life during the days that followed.
She sat at her desk, writing letters, referring to notes and lists and
answering questions as sweetly and faithfully as she had always done
from the first. She tried to remember every detail and she also tried to
keep before her mind that she must not let people guess that she was
thinking of other things--or rather trying