She led the way, and Mannering followed. As the maid closed the door behind them Mannering felt his breath quicken--his sense of depression grew stronger. He seemed threatened by some new and intangible danger. He stood on the hearthrug while she bent over the switch and turned on the electric light in the sitting-room. Then she threw off her cloak and looked at him curiously for a moment. Her face softened. "My dear Lawrence," she said, "has politics done this, or are you ill?" "I am quite well," he answered. "A little tired, perhaps. I have had rather a trying day." She rang the bell, and ordered sandwiches and wine. "You look like a corpse," she said, and stood over him while he ate and drank. And all the time that indefinable fear within him grew. She made him smoke. Then she leaned back in an easy-chair and looked across at him. "You had something to say to me. What was it?" "Nothing good," he answered. "I have quarrelled with my party, and I have to resign my seat in the House." "Already?" "Already! I am sorry, as of course in a few months' time I should have been in office, and drawing a considerable salary. As it is--" he hesitated. "Oh, I understand!" she said. "Well, it doesn't matter much. I only have the house for six months furnished, and that's paid for in advance. John must go, and the horses can be sold." He looked at her in amazement. Only a few months ago she had talked very differently. "I--I am not sure whether all that will be necessary," he said. "I can find a tenant for Blakely, and I daresay I can manage another hundred a year or so. Only, of course, the large increase we had thought of will not be possible now." "No, I suppose not," she answered, idly. He moved in his chair uncomfortably. He found her wholly incomprehensible. "What a beast I must have seemed to you always," she exclaimed, suddenly. "Why?" he asked, pointlessly. "I've sponged on you all my life, and you're not a rich man, are you, Lawrence? Then I dragged you into politics to supply me with the means to spend more money. My claim on you was one of sentiment only, but--I've made you pay. No wonder you hate me!" "Your claim on me, even to every penny I possess," Mannering answered, "was a perfectly just one. I have never denied it, and I have done my best. And as to hating you, you know quite well it is not true!" "Ah!" She rose suddenly to her feet, and before he had realized her intention she was on her knees by his side. She caught at his hand and kept her face hidden from him. "Lawrence," she cried, "I was mad the other day. It was all the pent-up bitterness of years which seemed to escape me so suddenly. I said so much that I did not mean to--I was mad, dear. Oh, Lawrence, I am so lonely!" Then the fear in his heart became a live thing. He was dumb. He could not have spoken had he tried.