It was too late to go to the Hall that night, but as early as ten o'clock next morning he mounted his horse and rode to Woodlea. John Temple had prepared his mind for this visit; had told himself that if Mr. Churchill did not call on him, that he himself would go to Woodside, and tell the truth as far as he knew it. Yet, while he and Mrs. Temple were still sitting at the breakfast table, when a servant entered the room and announced that Mr. Churchill had arrived and was waiting to see him, John Temple was conscious that his heart sank within him. But the next moment, with an effort, he nerved himself for the meeting, and rose quietly from the table. "Ask Mr. Churchill to go into the library," he said. The servant bowed and disappeared, and as he did so Mrs. Temple started up excitedly. "How horrible for that man to come," she half-whispered. "Whatever will you say to him?" "What can I say but the truth?" answered Temple, gloomily. "But surely you will not," and she went nearer to him and laid her hand on his arm, and raised her dark eyes to his face; "you will not tell him--of your other marriage?" "I must," said Temple, hoarsely; "how otherwise could I account for--what he must know?" "But consider--he may be violent--a hundred things may happen. John, I would not tell him that--say that you quarreled, and that she left you--anything but that." John Temple hesitated, and Mrs. Temple saw this in an instant. "Take my advice, at least about this," she went on eagerly. "Telling him could do no good, and might bring much harm. Just say you quarreled--say about another woman, if you like--and that then she left you, and that you have never seen or heard of her since. I do not think as you do about it; she probably did only leave you, and some day you may hear more." "If you think this--" "I do, John Temple; you can not tell what this man might do if he knew the whole story. Leave it to time at least, and say nothing rash." "I meant to tell him everything." "And I repeat it will do no good; it would only make a violent scene, and no end of trouble might come of it." Still John Temple hesitated, while again and again Mrs. Temple urged him not to tell Mr. Churchill more than he could possibly help. And at last her arguments, coupled with the natural shrinking of his own heart, prevailed. "For the present then I will say we quarreled, and that she left me," he said in a faltering voice. "To tell him more would do no good--and yet--" "That is right; tell him you quarreled about some woman, and tell him how you have sought for her; how you could hear nothing." John Temple had no answer to this, and then slowly, with a bowed head, he left the room and went toward the library to face the man whose daughter he had wronged. CHAPTER XL. A WOMAN'S BARGAIN. As John Temple entered the library, Mr. Churchill, who was standing by the fireplace, looked quickly up in his face, and then crossed the room to meet him.