very much the same way, but probably not so rapidly.

"There are some things, Edward," Christine said in a low shaken voice,
"that I cannot discuss even with you."

Hickson turned away with a groan.




CHAPTER III


Christine had been right when she told Riatt that Nancy Almar would be
resentful after a dull evening at the Usshers'.

The evening, as far as Nancy was concerned, had been very dull indeed. To
be bored, in her creed, was a confession of complete failure; it
indicated the most contemptible inefficiency, since she designed the
whole fabric of her life with the unique object of keeping herself
amused. Nothing bored her more than to have the general attention
centered on some one else, as all that evening it had been focussed on
the absent ones. Not only did she miss the excitement of her contest with
Christine over the possession of Riatt, but she was positively wearied by
the Usshers' anxiety, by her brother's agony of jealousy and fear, and by
Wickham's continual effort to strike an original thought from the
dramatic quality of the situation.

She was finally reduced to playing piquet with Wickham, and though she
won a good deal of money from him--more, that is, than he could