 grasp ideas such as these. Neither her
reading nor her experience prepared her to understand what Christian meant.
Courtship of a married woman was intelligible enough to her; but a love that
feared to soil itself, a devotion from afar, encouraged by only the faintest
hope of reward other than the most insubstantial - of that she had as little
conception as any woman among the wealthy vulgar.
    »Do you really mean, Mr. Moxey, that you - have kept unmarried for my sake?«
    »You don't know that?« he asked, hoarsely.
    »How could I? How was I to imagine such a thing? Really, was it proper? How
could you expect me, Mr. Moxey -?«
    For a moment she looked offended. But her real feelings were astonishment
and amusement, not unmingled with an idle gratification.
    »I must ask you to pardon me,« said Christian, whose forehead gleamed with
moisture.
    »No, don't say that. I am really so sorry! What an odd mistake!«
    »And I have hoped in vain - since you were free -?«
    »Oh, you mustn't say such things! I shall never dream of marrying again -
never!«
    There was a matter-of-fact vigour in the assertion which proved that Mrs.
Palmer spoke her genuine thought. The tone could not be interpreted as devotion
to her husband's memory; it meant, plainly and simply, that she had had enough
of marriage, and delighted in her freedom.
    Christian could not say another word. Disillusion was complete. The voice,
the face, were those of as unspiritual a woman as he could easily have met with,
and his life's story was that of a fool.
    He took his hat, held out his hand, with »Good-bye, Mrs. Palmer.« The cold
politeness left her no choice but again to look offended, and with merely a
motion of the head she replied, »Good-bye, Mr. Moxey.«
    And therewith permitted him to leave the house.
 

                                       II

On calling at Earwaker's chambers one February evening, Malkin became aware,
from the very threshold of the outer door, that the domicile was not as he had
known it. With the familiar fragrance of Earwaker's special mixture blended a
suggestion of new upholstery. The little vestibule had somehow put off its
dinginess, and an unwontedly brilliant light from the sitting-room revealed
changes of the interior which the visitor remarked with frank astonishment.
    »What the deuce! Has
