t. If Mrs. Macallan _had_
been twice married (as I had rashly chosen to suppose), she would
certainly have shown some signs of recognition when she heard me
addressed by her first husband's name. Where all else was mystery,
there was no mystery here. Whatever his reasons might be, Eustace had
assuredly married me under an assumed name.

Approaching the door of our lodgings, I saw my husband walking backward
and forward before it, evidently waiting for my return. If he asked me
the question, I decided to tell him frankly where I had been, and what
had passed between his mother and myself.

He hurried to meet me with signs of disturbance in his face and manner.

"I have a favor to ask of you, Valeria," he said. "Do you mind returning
with me to London by the next train?"

I looked at him. In the popular phrase, I could hardly believe my own
ears.

"It's a matter of business," he went on, "of no interest to any one but
myself, and it requires my presence in London. You don't wish to sail
just yet, as I understand? I can't leave you here by yourself. Have you
any objection to going to London for a day or two?"

I made no objection. I too was eager to go back.

In London I could obtain the legal opinion which would tell me whether
I were lawfully married to Eustace or not. In London I should be within
reach of the help and advice of my father's faithful old clerk. I could
confide in Benjamin as I could confide in no one else. Dearly as I
loved my uncle Starkweather, I shrank from communicating with him in my
present need. His wife had told me that I made a bad beginning when I
signed the wrong name in the marriage register. Shall I own it? My pride
shrank from acknowledging, before the honeymoon was over, that his wife
was right.

In two hours more we were on the railway again. Ah, what a contrast that
second journey presented to the first! On our way to Ramsgate everybody
could see that we were a newly wedded couple. On our way to London
nobody noticed us; nobody would have doubted that we had been married
for years.

We went to a private hotel in the neighborhood of Portland Place.

After breakfast the next morning Eustace announced that he must leave me
to attend to his business. I had previously mentioned to him that I had
some purchases to make in London. He was quite willing to let me go out
alone, on the condition that I should take a carriage provided by the
hotel.

My heart was heavy that morning: I fe