He laughed boisterously, but with a flagrant note of insincerity.

"Haven't I been telling you all the time?"

"You've kept something back," she panted, gripping his fingers
frantically, "the greatest thing. Speak about it. Anything is better
than this silence. Don't you remember your promise before you
went--you would tell me everything--everything! Well?"

Her words pierced the armor of his own self-deceit. The bare room
seemed suddenly full of glowing images of Fenella. His face was
transfigured.

"I haven't told you very much about Mrs. Weatherley," he said,
simply. "She is very wonderful and very beautiful. She was very kind
to me, too."

Ruth leaned forward in her chair; her eyes read what she strove yet
hated to see. She threw herself suddenly back, covering her face
with her hands. The strain was over. She began to weep.




CHAPTER X

AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR


Mr. Weatherley laid down his newspaper with a grunt. He was alone in