A Duel

she demanded--at least outwardly, for she continually suspected him of having his tongue in his cheek--she proceeded to show that there was a side to her character which was not altogether unpleas

uling her--with distinctly solid results. Especially was this the case when they learned that the new mistress was inclined to be as lax as the dethroned one had been rigid. So long as the work of the house

life a broken leg is no small matter--promised to remain there for some time, there was no one to say her nay. Isabel turned out every cupboard and every drawer; waded through every scrap of writing they contained; appraised every article she found--and, indeed, assembled quite a nice collection of what she dee

attire as she imagined she required, together with a trunk to contain them. These she paid for out of Nannie's store. She did not think it nec

d a right to get at it. Almost as if he were conscious of what was transpiring in her brain, Cuthbert Grahame took advantage of an opportunity which arose, or which he, perhaps, made himself, to volunteer some information o

was not spent in prying into everything the house contained. As her researches drew to a conclusion--as even the most thorough investigation allowed them to do in time--that unoccupied portion became more and more. So, having examined the inside of the house she turned her attention to the outside, to l

d--with what an anxious heart!--to the wheels of Dr. Twelves' approaching trap. Passers-by, thereabouts, were few and far between; for days together she would not encounter any. She had grown to love seclusion, possibly for sufficient reasons of her own. She was seated on a slope. The roa

was he doing there? What could have brought him to that neighbourhood? She had taken it for granted that he had long since returned to London. Even Mrs. Macconichie's--supposing he

thing possessed, and vanished from her sight, though not before she had nearly convinced herself that the man with her husband--the one who was driving--was Dr. Twelves. She had only seen him from the back, and then had had but occasional glimpses through intervening trees for half-a-dozen

in part, because, as she herself put it, she was no ordinary woman; and partly because, under the circumstances, considering the part which he himself had played, he did not see what else there was for him to do. Let him, howe

d Gregory Lamb given him cause to even suspect the relation in which she stood to him? On a third point there was no doubt-

altogether agreeable. The doctor and her husband might have been to the house already, i

She started off homewards then and there, telling herself as she went that, whateve

had happened which was in any way out of the common. The relief she felt at learning even so much showed how real she had imagined the danger was. With some vague idea of su

ath-in-life rigidity which, it seemed, was to continue his condi

on a day like this, when the sun is shining and t

silent for some seconds, then he asked, in his stran

t you

ing ill. It seems to me that you might as well be dead as keep on lyin

ed to her more

val went on: "What's the use of being tired of what has to be? I

tired of me. I'm no more to

re my

to get tired instead of you. I'm not a helpless statu

once

a m

ueer, do

t belie

an. Now the Lord knows what I am!--a husk, I su

there were, an

her laughter seldom had a pleasant sound, as if it were on

anted to marry you, or any one? I'd have married your fri

hat t

oman would serve he hauled you up the stairs." She was still. She was standing in her favourite position by the open window, looking out at the wood

kno

told

Twe

you a good deal of useful info

favour, which you wanted to break, and

you who the s

N

. Do you hear--

hea

now. No one could ever mistake you for a lady. You're one of the blowzy sort; you'll become impossible; hard-featured; flame-coloured chee

at kind of w

found in the sort of socie

rfect women! In spite of her perfection you don't seem to have found her all m

why I wanted

ried to scratch your eyes out, I da

he wouldn'

hter. "She must have been a fool. I should have thought any o

met; she's clean beyond your understanding. Put your hand u

the pillows with it right from under the one on which his head reposed, so that, denuded of its support, his head fell back. In a second he began to choke before her eyes. His face grew bluer and bluer; the veins stood out through h

ke long to make

ined the use of hi

be murder. Murder has to be paid for in full. It would be hardly worth your while to be c

lue. She looked for a spring or for something which wou

pen? I don

nce I've seen that I have grown hungry for a look, so you shall have one too. I think I should like you to have on

irl. Isabel was no artist; she was incapable of appreciating the artistic value of the portrait which confronted her. What st

real?" she

re because she is the queen of pearls; the sapphires, because they a

t be very

fetch a lot. That is the girl I wanted

is pr

She's b

oo fair

women--always have done. Hold the case

same; that also was incapable of modulation. Yet she knew that an alteration had taken place in him; that

t, and put it back beneath my pillow--gently. That glimpse will last me a long time, thank you. Though I may never look at her again, her face will be with me always to the end. Before you close the case

in her hand, to the window in fr