"Take my beast home," he said. "He is too hot to stand, and I shall not
soon be ready."




CHAPTER XVI--Dealing with that which was done in the Panelled Parlour


He followed her to the Panelled Parlour, the one to which she had taken
Osmonde on the day of their bliss, the one in which in the afternoon she
received those who came to pay court to her over a dish of tea. In the
mornings none entered it but herself or some invited guest. 'Twas not
the room she would have chosen for him; but when he said to her, "'Twere
best your ladyship took me to some private place," she had known there
was no other so safe.

When the door was closed behind them, and they stood face to face, they
were a strange pair to behold--she with mad defiance battling with mad
despair in her face; he with the mocking which every woman who had ever
trusted him or loved him had lived to see in his face when all was lost.
Few men there lived who were as vile as he, his power of villainy lying
in that he knew not the meaning of man's shame or honour.

"Now," she said, "tell me the worst."

"'Tis not so bad," he answered, "that a man should claim his own, and
swear that no other man shall take it from him. That I have sworn, and
that I will hold to."