estates and title."

Such a monstrous picture of Jenny at first bewildered Brendon and
then incensed him. Was it within the bounds of possibility that
after six months of wedded life with this woman, any man living
would utter such an indictment and believe it?

"She is great in her way--much too great for me," said Giuseppe
frankly. "She should have been a Medici or a Borgia; she should have
lived many centuries sooner, before policeman and detective officers
were invented. You stare and think I lie. But I do not lie. I see
very clearly indeed. I look back at the past and the veil is lifted.
I understand much that I did not understand when I was growing blind
with love for her. As for this Robert Redmayne--'Robert the Devil,'
I call him--once I thought that he was a ghost; but he is not a
ghost: he is a live man.

"And presently what will happen if he is not caught and hanged? He
will kill Uncle Alberto and perhaps kill me, too. Then he will run
away with Jenny. And I tell you this, Brendon: the sooner he does
so, if only he leaves me alone, the better pleased I shall be. A
hideous speech? Yes, very hideous indeed; but perfectly true, like
many hideous things."

"Do you honestly expect that I, who know your wife, am going to
believe this grotesque story?"

"I do not mind whether you believe it or no. Feel as savage as you
please. For that matter I feel rather savage myself. There is a new
ferocity creeping into me. If you keep company with a wolf, you will