sitors. She wanted so
much to talk to him, to tell him of all the trouble about Stella. She
felt chilled that he was not ready to listen to her when she needed to
talk to him so much.

"Sir Shawn has returned, m'lady," said Reilly, the new butler, the
possessor of a flat large face with side whiskers which always made her
want to laugh. Reilly's manners, she had said, would befit a ducal
household, and it had been no surprise to her to learn that he had
lived with an old gentleman who had a Duke for a grandfather, and that
a part of his duties had been to recite family prayers, understudying
his master.

"Yes," she said, "has he had tea, Reilly?"

"No, m'lady. He did not wish for tea."

"He has a visitor? Has this person been long with him?"

"I don't know, m'lady. No one came in this way. I went a while ago to
see if the fire was burning, and I found the door locked, m'lady, I
concluded Sir Shawn did not wish to be disturbed."

"Sir Shawn's visitors on business come in by the window that opens on
the lawn. The handle of the office door is rather stiff. I don't
think it could have been locked."

She went on down the passage to the office door. She heard voices the
other side of the door. Sir Shawn was speaking in a fatigued voice.
She had hardly ever known him to speak angrily. She listened for a
second or two. The other voice answered; it was thick and coarse: she
could not hear what was said. She went back to the drawing-room, where
a little later Sir Shawn joined her.

Even when they were alone she always dressed in her most beautiful
garments for her husband's eyes. To-night she had chosen a pink satin
dress, close-fitting and trailing heavily, with her garnets.

She was sitting by the fire when Sir Shawn came in and his eyes lighted
as they fell upon her.

"You look like your own daughter, Mary," he said, "only so much more
beautiful than the girl I married. What a wonderful colour your gown
is! It makes you like a beautiful open rose."

She laughed. His compliments were never stale to her.

"Where were you when I came in?" he asked. "'I looked in your chamber,
'twas lonely?'"

She evaded the question for a moment. "I made an attempt to enter by
your window as I came back, but you had a visitor."

He was standing with his back to the fire, looking down at her, and she
saw the ominous shadows come in the hollows of his cheeks.

"A troublesome visitor, Mary," he said. "When I c