"Did he tell you so?" Fleda asked. At this our young lady smiled. "Yes, because it was a disappointment. She had been so sure."!

Fleda saw perfectly, and, with a face in which she flattered herself that nothing of this vision appeared, gave him her hand and said: "Good-bye, good-bye." "I said to her that her question revealed a total misconception of the nature of my present relations with my son. I said to her that I had no relations with him at all, and that nothing had passed between us for months. I said to her that my hands were spotlessly clean of any attempt to make him make up to you. I said to her that I had taken from Poynton what I had a right to take, but had done nothing else in the world. I was determined that if I had bit my tongue off to oblige you I would at least have the righteousness that my sacrifice gave me."

"You must sit down, then, till I go," said Fleda. "We must find a bench." "Whatever we hear, I must go." As the cab went on she added: "But I needn't drag you to the station." CHAPTER XIII