had cruelly thrown aside Anna Hethbridge when a richer marriage offered
itself. Now he had missed both bone and reflection, and he sat with a
smile on his dark face, looking out over the dreary desert.




CHAPTER III

MERCURY

_The evil is sown, but the destruction thereof is not yet come._


James Edward Makerstone Agar was not at the age of five the material
from which the heroes of children's stories are evolved. He was not a
good boy, nor a clean, nor particularly interesting. He was, however,
honest--and that is _deja quelque chose_. He was as far removed from the
"misunderstood" type as could be wished; and he was quite happy.

Before his stepmother had laid aside the title and glory of a bride, he
had, by his deadly honesty, made her understand that even a child of five
requires what she could not give him--namely, logic. Had she been clever
enough to reason logically she might have undermined the little fellow's
innate honesty of character, despite the fact that he lacked a child's
chief incentive to learn from its mother, namely, the sympathy of
heredity.

Gradually and steadily Mrs. Agar "gave him up," to make use of her own
expression. She was one of those women who either fear or despise that