th the Quests might,
he thought, give rise to surmises and suspicion in a little country
town like Boisingham, where all his movements were known. So, albeit
with a faint heart, he determined to go.

Accordingly, at three o'clock precisely, he was shown into the
drawing-room at the Oaks. Mrs. Quest was not there; indeed he waited
for ten minutes before she came in. She was pale, so pale that the
blue veins on her forehead showed distinctly through her ivory skin,
and there was a curious intensity about her manner which frightened
him. She was very quiet also, unnaturally so, indeed; but her quiet
was of the ominous nature of the silence before the storm, and when
she spoke her words were keen, and quick, and vivid.

She did not shake hands with him, but sat down and looked at him,
slowly fanning herself with a painted ivory fan which she took up from
the table.

"You sent for me, Belle, and here I am," he said, breaking the
silence.

Then she spoke. "You told me the other day," she said, "that you were
not engaged to be married to Ida de la Molle. It is not true. You are
engaged to be married to her."

"Who said so?" he asked defiantly. "Quest, I suppose?"

"I have it on a better authority," she answered. "I have it from Miss
de la Molle herself. Now, listen, Edward Cossey. When I let you go, I
made a condition, and that condition was that you should /not/ marry
Ida de la Molle. Do you still intend to marry her?"

"You had it from Ida," he said, disregarding her question; "then you
must have spoken to Ida--you must have told her everything. I
suspected as much from her manner the other night. You----"

"Then it is true," she broke in coldly. "It is true, and in addition
to your other failings, Edward, you are a coward and--a liar."

"What is it to you what I am or what I am not?" he answered savagely.
"What business is it of yours? You have no hold over me, and no claim
upon me. As it is I have suffered enough at your hands and at those of
your accursed husband. I have had to pay him thirty thousand pounds,
do you know that? But of course you know it. No doubt the whole thing
is a plant, and you will share the spoil."

"/Ah!/" she said, drawing a long breath.

"And now look here," he went on. "Once and for all, I will not be
interfered with by you. I /am/ engaged to marry Ida de la Molle, and
whether you wish it or no I shall marry her. And one more thing. I
will not allow you to associate with Ida. Do you