"Dead!" shrieked Mrs. Dallas, all her superstition roused by the word. "Come away from that man, Isabella."

"Maurice dead!" repeated the girl, with a pale cheek.

The young man shrugged his shoulders.

"Pooh! pooh! some nonsense that Dr. Etwald was talking about last night," he added, contemptuously. "He says if I marry, it will be a case of life in death, whatever that means."

Etwald rose to his feet and stretched out a menacing hand.

"I have warned you, Alymer," he said, sternly. "Your marriage, after or before it, means life in death. Take care! Ladies," he added, with a bow, "I take my departure."

Outside Etwald found Dido waiting for him. He looked at her significantly.

"I have failed," he said. "There is nothing left but the devil-stick."

 

 

 

 

 CHAPTER VI.

A STRANGE OCCURRENCE.

 

Maurice returned home after a somewhat stormy interview with Mrs. Dallas. For once the mother of Isabella was roused out of her habitual indifference, and she refused absolutely to accept Alymer as her son-in-law. In vain the lovers implored her to give some reason for her strange refusal, but beyond expressing a personal dislike for Maurice she declined to explain her conduct. The young man saw in this uncalled for behavior the hostile influence of Dido.

"It is because that black woman distrusts me that you object," he said, when Mrs. Dallas had talked herself hoarse. "I wonder that an English lady, a Christian and an educated person should be 

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