of love and life and there should have been such bliss and peace before her but for one madness of her all days and this beside her this man with the fair face and looks and devil s eyes was her and carried his rope with him and soon would fit it close about her neck when they rode through the part of the town where abode the world of fashion those who saw them knew them and that the two should be together a lady of quality but perhaps his love has made him sue for pardon that he has so borne himself some said and she has chosen to be gracious to him since she is gracious in these days to all when they reached her house he dismounted with her wearing an outward air of courtesy but his eye her as she knew i his horse was in a of sweat and he spoke to the servant take my beast home he said he is too hot to stand and i shall not soon be ready he followed her to her private saloon the one to which she had taken on the day of their bliss the one in which in the afternoon she received those who came to pay court to her over a dish of tea in the mornings none entered it but herself or some invited guest twas not the room she would have chosen for him but when he said to her best your took me to some private place she had known there was no other so safe when the door was closed behind them and they stood face to face they were a strange pair to behold she with mad defiance with mad despair in her face he with the mock ing which every woman who had ever trusted him or loved him had lived to see in his face when all was lost few men there lived who were as vile as he his power of lying in a lady of quality that he knew not the meaning of man s shame or honor now she said tell me the worst tis not so bad he answered that a man should claim his own and swear that no other man shall take it from him that i have sworn and that i will hold to your own she said your own you call it � villain my own since i can keep it he before you were my lord of s you were mine � of your own free will nay nay she cried god through some madness i knew not the of � because i was so young and had known naught but evil � and you were so base and wise was your an innocent he answered it seemed not so to me an innocent of all good she cried of all things good on earth of all that i know now having seen manhood and honor his grace of has not been told this he said and i shall make it all plain to him what do you ask devil she broke forth what is t you ask that you shall not be the of he said drawing near to her that you shall be the wife of sir john as you a lady of quality once called yourself for a brief space though no priest had over us who was t us she said gasping for i was an honest thing though i knew no other virtue who was t us i confess he answered bowing that twas i � for the time being i was young and perhaps and you left me she cried and i found that you had come but for a bet � and since i so bore myself that you could not boast and since i was not a rich woman whose fortune would be of use to you you followed another and left me � me as his grace of will when i tell him my story he answered he is not one to brook that such things can be told of the mother of his she would have shrieked aloud but that she clutched her throat in time tell him i she cried tell him and see if he will hear you your word against mine think you i do not know that full well he answered and he brought forth a little folded in silk why have i done naught but threaten till this time if i went to him without proof he would run me through with his sword as i were a mad dog but is there another woman in england from whose head her a lady of quality lover could a lock as long and black as this he unfolded the silk and let other silk itself a great and thick ring of hair which its serpent length and though he held it high was long enough after swaying from his hand to lie upon the floor merciful god she cried and shuddering hid her face twas a bet i own he said i heard too much of the mad beauty and her disdain of men not to be fired by a desire to prove to her and others that she was but a woman after all and so was to be won i took an oath that i would come back some day with a � and this i cut when you knew not that i did it she clutched her throat again to keep from shrieking in her impotent horror devil and � and he knows not what he is she gasped he is a mad thing who knows not that all his thoughts are of hell twas in a strange and monstrous thing to see him so and bold before no shrinking not to speak openly the thing before the mere accusation of which other men s blood would have boiled when 