Mrs. Linley rose to her feet. The first vague anticipations of
future atonement and reconciliation, suggested by her
brother-in-law, no longer existed in her mind: she foresaw but
too plainly what was to come. "Read faster," she said, "or let me
read it for myself."

Mrs. Presty went on: "There is no wish, on my part, to pain you
by any needless allusion to my claims as a father. My one desire
is to enter into an arrangement which shall be as just toward
you, as it is toward me. I propose that Kitty shall live with her
father one half of the year, and shall return to her mother's
care for the other half If there is any valid objection to this,
I confess I fail to see it."

Mrs. Linley could remain silent no longer.

"Does he see no difference," she broke out, "between his position
and mine? What consolation--in God's name, what consolation is
left to me for the rest of my life but my child? And he threatens
to separate us for six months in every year! And he takes credit
to himself for an act of exalted justice on his part! Is there no
such thing as shame in the hearts of men?"

Under ordinary circumstances, her mother would have tried to calm
her. But Mrs. Presty had turned to the next page of the letter,
at the moment when her daughter spoke.

What she found written, on that other side, produced a startling
effect on her. She crumpled the letter up in her hand, and threw