"That is not the monopoly of only one of your sex," interposed the Young
Doctor dryly. "If I were you I wouldn't apologise for it. You speak to
a sister in like distress."

Kitty's eyes flamed up, but she turned her head, as though some licensed
libertine of speech had had his say, and looked with friendly eyes at
Mona. "Yes, yes--please go on," she urged.

"When I wrote that letter I had forgotten what I had done the day before
the race. I had gone into my husband's room to find some things I needed
from the drawer of his dressing-table; and far at the back of a drawer I
found a crumpled-up roll of ten-pound notes. It was fifty pounds
altogether. I took the notes--"

She paused a moment, and the room became very still. Both her listeners
were sure that they were nearing a thing of deep importance.

In a lower voice Mona continued: "I don't know what possessed me, but
perhaps it was that the things he did of which I disapproved most had got
a hold on me in spite of myself. I said to myself: 'I am going to the
Derby. I will take the fifty pounds, and I'll put it on a horse for
Shiel.' He had talked so much to my brother about Flamingo, and I had
seen him go wrong so often, that I had a feeling if I put it on a horse
that Shiel particularly banned, it would probably win. He had been wrong
nearly every time for two years. It was his money, and if it won, it
would make him happy; and if it didn't win, well, he didn't know the
money existed--I was sure of that; and, anyhow, I could replace it. I
put it on a horse he condemned utterly, but of which one or two people
spoke well. You know what happened to Flamingo. While at Epsom I heard
from friends that Shiel was present at the race, though he had said he