endured, I felt the more assured in trusting my child's happiness
into his keeping."

"That was sweet of you, mother; but did it not occur to you that
there was just--a little risk?"

"How?"

"I don't think that John is a man who would forget easily."

"Good Heavens, child! what do you mean? you cannot doubt the
sincerity of his protestations of affection for you, surely?"

Her daughter laughed.

"I certainly do not wish him to be more demonstrative, mother dear;
love-making is the most boring process imaginable; but still, I
should prefer, I must confess, that there was no under-current of
feeling for wife number one."

"You amaze me, Ethel, by suggesting such a horrible idea. The woman
may be dead for anything I know; at all events, she left England
before he obtained his divorce, and no one has heard anything of her
since. It is extremely improbable that she will ever return to this
country."

But in this, as we know, the Duchess was in grave error.

At that very moment Bella was sitting by the open piano in her cosy
apartments in a street off the Strand, idly striking a note here and