A shadow had fallen upon the engagement of Herrick and Aldwyth Westwood. The Westwoods were back in Hill Street, and Herrick also had returned after a long yachting cruise with his cousin, Lord Eastmere. But although he went frequently to see Aldwyth at Hill Street, and was disposed to be more than ever a devoted lover, something had come between them. It puzzled and troubled him. He kept hoping from week to week that the chill would pass away. He hoped, so far, in vain. Aldwyth, of course, was conscious that the chill existed. She blamed herself, and tried to persuade her heart that it ached for nothing more than the rather ordinary tribute that a rather ordinary young man had to offer; was not it her plain duty to be happy in her engagement and in the prospect of marriage that lay not far ahead? But the fact remained that she was not happy. Hers was a far more subtle temperament than her lover’s. What satisfied him left her with a sense of something wanting. She found herself--somewhat to her own surprise--comparing young Herrick with two other men with whom she had been brought in contact. One of these was Marcus White, whose powerful personality had been vividly remembered after that strange interview at the Folkestone hotel. She had seen no more of him, but his name was constantly whispered in connection with the demonstrations of the Leaguers; moreover, she could not forget that there was, as her father had confessed, an old-standing and ominous antagonism between himself and this strange man, who had told her that he knew her mother. It was not that she had any definable feeling for her father’s enemy, except that his was a strong, exceptional, and interesting personality. Thus he was often present in her thoughts, and she had an intuitive conviction that he and she would meet again. Meanwhile there was Father Francis--his, also, was a personality that was powerfully influencing her life and feelings. This priest, ascetic in life as in appearance, in truth was exercising an extraordinary, an almost hypnotic influence over great numbers of women who belonged to West End society. At every service at which he officiated, St Stephen’s Church was packed. His sermons, often appealing, but more frequently denunciatory, were listened to with rapt attention by crowded congregations. He, pre-eminently among the clergy of London, had shown an inspired capacity to deal with the sins and sorrows of the times. He fiercely attributed the latter to the former, and declared that the greatest sinners in all the sinful city were those--a multitude of men and a still greater multitude of women--who lived selfish, idle, and luxurious lives, untouched with divine compassion for the masses, and deaf to the prophetic warnings of evil to come.