Year: 1874

| ANoN.
Open defiance vas the role Beatrice Ad
ans had deter mined to assume, and she
| felt that she was for once at bay. Desper
ate and bold, however, she resolved not q
! give up the battle if all the latent forces
! IN her nature could be brought TO aid ia
uverturning all the statements Of Cyrille
Eyting, statements she WAS positive had
been made. In a certain point Of view
she was not without resources at her com
mand to prove the entire falsity ~ the
woman statements, yet even she, woman
Of the world as she was, was too weary Of
the incessant plotting which had filled her
life for 50 many years, and she desired to
abandon all the intrigue which had been So
generally called on by her.


AS she heard her husband coming there
fore, she was not at loss as to what course
she should pursue. Defiance was the first
prompting of her mind, and dissimulation
the second thought. When she heard the
door open, however, and her eyes rested
upon the face Of Colonel Adams, as sne
read more suffering than hatred, ana grief
than hrmness, she adopted another entire
ly new course, she determined L. profess
entire ignorance of the charges he might
make.-to become indignant il he ex-
pressed any belief in them, and then II
await further issues What those issues
might involve, She did not care to think
now-all she wanted was time-tlme to
collect her scattered forces Of the mind.
anu ID summon her pensioner, Nane Eve
lyn, to her aid.


Exposure was too imminent to look to
the minor details IF the plot surrounding
all, and she advanced slnilingly to her hus-
band as he entered.


He held her aside for a moment, and
then as he seated himself, he indicated
desire that she should be seated. She did
so, well-feigned wonderment coming into
her eyes, and all the smile fading out from
her face.


"What is it p she asked in a eonstrain-
ed tone Of voice, ostensibly hurt at his
manner.


He turned his pale face to her own, he
gazed from eyes that were fttingly sugges-
tive Of the disgrace he felt SO keenly upon
her, and then said


q" Beatrice, | have not come to you in
anger | have not even one word Of re-
proach for YOU. | have come to you to
tell you for your own sake to fly from this
house.


She was startled in the widest genuine
amazement. She had expected exposure,
but her minds deepest cogitations had
never been bent upon possibility Of her
in any way becoming deprived Of her lib
erty, or being more than exposed for her
past treachery. In her husband words
She saw more than the words expressed 70
her.


You are speaking in q riddle" she
said. Explain your meaning"


mean that you are no longer a wife
Of mine. False as you have been, false as
you are, | will not deprive you Of one last
9 ance to escape the severest humiliation
IT you will. Stay " he interrupted, as she
was about to dissmulate to him.


You can deceive me no farther.
have learned of your past, and it is too
dark picture to look upon again. l do
not wish to hear a word am convinced
Of your unworthiness, and Of your un-
faIthfulness, and you are only my wife in
name henceforth and forevermore. But
you leave enemies-avengers as they are,
who will brook no delay in bringing you to
punishment"


81 For what !" burst from the woman q
lips. "You are mad, sir, to utter TRADE
as utterly incomprehensible to me as it is
untrue. Go, sir, leave the room and my
presehce-the presence Of the wife whom
some vague development has caused you
to thus insult


He qusiled before the stormy eloquence
of her words yet they rung in his ears,
and left no impress upon his mind Some
thing within him bade him believe the
story he had just heard from Cyrllle Ey-
ting. But in the presence Of this woman,
whose magnificent beauty had bewitched
him, he wavered.


She had Withdrawn to her boudoir at
tached to her sitting room, as she spoke,
and he looked hopelessiy after her as she
withdrew. Then, in an absent manner,
he raised his hand to his brow, and NUT
tering a few incoherent words, left the
room and descended the stairs to his libra
ry He locked the door, and sitting de-
jected in his armchair, gave himself up to
the gloomiest meditations-


In the meanwhile Beatrice was in wild
maze of indecision and doubt. She saw
her coveted prey slipping from her grasp,
and the fortune she was SO eager to gain
becoming loss to her. Something must
be done.


But what


She meditated but a very few moments,
then she descended the stairs to the draw
lng-room. Myrtle had gone out for a drive
lew moments after her father had been
called to his library for the interview with
Cyrllle Eyting, and Ronald Darlington
was not y be seen. II was for him that
Beatrice Adams was now seeking, and,
falling to ind him about the house, she
weRT through the grounds in search Of
him.


She came to the arbOr, a spot which was