from beginning to end. No such letter was ever written by Lady Linthorpe; but not till about a month ago did that fact come to my knowledge, and not till then was I in a position to fathom the depths of my wife's treachery. It was she who arranged the conversation overheard by Madeline that evening on the terrace, the actors in it being the son of her father's bailiff and the governess to her two younger sisters. It was a damnable plot, but it succeeded."

He proceeded to light his cigarette, which done, he resumed his slow pacing to and fro.

"It was indeed a black business," said Roden. "Did you tell Mrs. Drelincourt of your discovery?"

"I did not fail to do so."

"And she----?"

"Laughed at me with that cold blooded laugh of hers which used to go through me like a knife. In those days, she said, she was such a simpleton as to fancy herself in love with me, and, in any case, she had vowed to herself that Miss Fenwicke should never be my wife. She will never laugh at me again."

"I am glad, Felix, you have told me this," said Roden presently. "It has served to make clear much that was obscure to me before."

"I have not done yet. Something more remains to be told."

Tossing away what was left of his cigarette, Drelincourt sat down again on the felled trunk.

 

 

 

 

 CHAPTER II.

AFTER THE TELLING OF THE NEWS.

 

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