CHAPTER XX.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13841, 22 December 1908, Page 6

CHAPTER XX.

MARGARET LEAVES HILL STREET.

She wondered afterwards why she had not dropped and died there ; but her brain was numbed. It was n> though he had struck and struck her till she could feel no more. Her limb-, were feeble; she touched her brow with a hand of ice. "He has gone," she said. "I shall never see him again." She drew off her gloves, slowly, and went up to her bedroom. She was still dressed for driving as when he had mot her in the hall on this never-to-be-forgotten day, and she removed her hat, standing before the glass. The reflection of he;r face almost frightened her. Her white cheeks, mid staring eyes, and slightly open mouth were those of a mask.

What had happened lo hrr to mako her look like that? Then the breakdown came. She throw herself on the bed, and her handb clenched in agony, and she touched hell as nearly as ,-» woman shall who is still in the flesh. She did not cry, because hers was one of those natures which, stirred to their deepest depths, cannot find relief in tears. She burned, heart and brain, writing and moaning sometiraeSj but dry-eyed to the last. It was like a terrible fever of the soul in which she suffered without rest, without hope except of death. For two hours she l.i\ Thriv, ignoring the passage of time. Then sho heard voices in the corridor, and' rose and repaired the disorder of her hair. It was nearly lunch time, and she would be expected to go .downstairs and talk anc^ eat as though the world had not come to an end a couple of hours ago. Lady Dashuell, who had returned from lift* morning's shopping, was opening parcels in her boudoir when Margaret knocked/ "Do come iv, Margaret, and look at this chiffon," she said. "Isn't it vexing; it is the wrong shade after all!" '«'Very vexing," said Margaret, absently.

"Has Aubrey gone?" The natural question jarred the young woman's quivering nerves like a rough hand falling on the sensitive strings of a harp. "Yes. Lady Dashwell, I have something very painful to tell you." (To be continued.)