"Indeed, I do, Gerald," the girl said. "There was a letter waiting for me
in my bedroom. It was a short letter, but long enough to wreck my
happiness for all time."

"No, no," Venner cried; "not for all time. You asked me to trust you
absolutely and implicitly, and I have done so. I believe every word that
you say, and I am prepared to wait patiently enough till the good time
comes. But I am not going to sit down quietly like this and see a pure
life like yours wrecked for the sake of such a scoundrel as Fenwick.
Surely it is not for his sake that you--"

"Oh, no," the girl cried. "My sacrifice is not for his sake at all, but
for that of another whose life is bound up with his in the strangest
possible way. When you first met me, Gerald, and asked me to be your
wife, you did not display the faintest curiosity as to my past history.
Why was that?"

"Why should I?" Venner demanded. "I am my own master, I have more money
than I know what to do with and I have practically no relations to
consider. You were all-sufficient for me; I loved you for your own sake
alone; I cared nothing, and I care nothing still for your past. What I
want to know is, how long this is going on?"

"That I cannot tell you," Vera said sadly. "You must go on trusting me,
dear. You must--"

The speaker broke off suddenly, as someone in the corridor called her
name. She slipped away from Venner's side, and, looking through the palms
and flowers, he could see that she was talking eagerly to a woman who had