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 the remainder of his days. It ruined Pembroke's father thirty years ago."

Olivia started. This was like an oracle answering her own thoughts.

She thought, with a little bitter smile that it did not require much generosity to give up a man on whom one had no claim, and laughed at the idea of a struggle. At all events she would forget it all. It was not so easy to forget though. The thought stayed with her, and went to bed with her, and rose with her next morning.

Meanwhile, alas, for Madame Koller. When she came out, she looked around in vain for the negro woman who had come with her. She was not to be seen. They had come by the path that led through the fields, which made it only a mile from The Beeches to Isleham, but in going back, she missed her way—and then being a little afraid of the negroes, she went "around the road," as they called it. At the first gate, a man galloped out of the darkness. It was Pembroke. He recognized her at once, and got off his horse.

"You here," he cried in surprise—"at this hour"—for it was well on to seven o'clock, and Madame Koller was not noted for her fondness for walking.

"Yes," she answered.

"Is anything the matter at Isleham?" he asked—for she could not have come from anywhere else.

"Nothing at all," she replied nervously. "I—I—went over to see Olivia Berkeley," she added boldly.