he never was a provident man.'

'He's comin' tae see ye, mem,' said Archie, grimly, lighting his
pipe.

Madame rose to her feet and walked to the window.

'He's done that before,' she said, complacently; 'the result was not
satisfactory.'

'Continual dropping wears away a stone,' said Selina, who was now
clearing away.

'But not iron,' replied Madame, placidly; 'I don't think his
persistence will gain anything.'

Archie smiled grimly, and then went outside to smoke his pipe, while
Madame sat down by the open window and looked out at the fast-fading
landscape.

Her thoughts were not pleasant. She had hoped to cut herself off
from all the bitterness and sorrow of her past life, but this
husband of hers, like an unquiet spirit, came to trouble her and
remind her of a time she would willingly have forgotten. She looked
calm and quiet enough sitting there with her placid face and smooth
brow; but this woman was like a slumbering volcano, and her passions
were all the more dangerous from being kept in check.

A bat flew high up in the air across the clear glow of the sky,
disappearing into the adjacent bush, and Madame, stretching out her