He stopped suddenly, staring absently at the fire with a darkening brow.

"You would do what, John?"

"Hate this man Holbrook almost as savagely as you hate him, for having
come between you and your happiness. Yet, if Marian Nowell did not love
you--as a wife should love her husband, with all her heart and soul--it
was ten thousand times better that the knot should be cut in time,
however roughly. Think what your misery would have been if you had
discovered after your marriage that her heart had never been really
yours."

"I cannot imagine that possible. I have no shadow of doubt that I should
have succeeded in winning her heart if this man had not robbed me of her.
My absence gave him his opportunity. Had I been at hand to protect my own
interests, I do not think his influence could have prevailed against me."

"It is quite natural that you should think that," John Saltram said
gravely. "Yet you may be mistaken. A woman's love is such a capricious
thing, and so often bestowed upon the least deserving amongst those who
seek it."

After this they were silent for some time, and then Gilbert told his
friend about his acquaintance with Jacob Nowell, and the old man's futile
endeavours to find his grandchild; to all of which Mr. Saltram listened
attentively.

"Then you fancy there is a good bit of money in question?" he said, when
Gilbert told him everything.