master; thy spoken word is master of thee."

"Thank you." "Thank you." "How I envy your power of playing!"

The two ladies seemed to vie with each other in making pretty
speeches, and Zaluski, who loved music and loved giving pleasure,
looked really pleased. I am sure it did not enter his head that his
two companions were not sincere, or that they did not wish him well.
He was thinking to himself how simple and kindly the Muddleton
people were, and how great a contrast this life was to his life in
London; and he was saying to himself that he had been a fool to live
a lonely bachelor life till he was nearly thirty, and yet
congratulating himself that he had done so since Gertrude was but
nineteen. Undoubtedly, he was seeing blissful visions of the future
all the time that he replied to the pretty speeches, and shook hands
with Lena Houghton, and opened the drawing-room door for her, and
took out his watch to assure her that she had plenty of time and
need not hurry to church.

Poor Zaluski! He looked so kindly and pleasant. Though I was only
a slander, and might have been supposed to have no heart at all, I
did feel sorry for him when I thought of the future and of the grief
and pain which would persistently dog his steps.



MY SECOND STAGE