never leave him, wherever he go or whatever he did. Well, I never will
leave him--or you, madame--no."

"That is right, that is right," she said earnestly; "you must never leave
him, Jacques. He is a good man."

When Jacques had gone she shut herself up in her room. She was gathering
all her life into the compass of an hour. She felt but one thing: the
ruin of her happiness and Gaston's.

"He is a good man," she said over and over to herself. And the other--
Ian Belward? All the barbarian in her was alive.

The next morning she started for Paris, saying to Jacques and Annette
that she would return in four days.




CHAPTER XVIII

"RETURN, O SHULAMITE!"

Almost the first person that Gaston recognised in London was Cluny Vosse.
He had been to Victoria Station to see a friend off by the train, and as
he was leaving, Gaston and he recognised each other. The lad's greeting
was a little shy until he saw that Gaston was cool and composed as usual
--in effect, nothing had happened. Cluny was delighted, and opened his
mind: