Some such gloomy thoughts as these passed through the overwrought brain of Arthur Hazlehurst as, late in the night after Kate’s visit to Mrs. Leonard, he folded up the last document of which he had made himself master relative to the disputed peerage case in which he was retained. The evidence of which he had that day become possessed would, he felt certain, ensure his client’s success, in which event his own career would in all probability be a prosperous one, and fame and fortune become his; but how worthless did these appear, now they could no longer be shared with her he loved! Until the incident of that morning had so powerfully affected him, he hoped that he had in great measure eradicated this affection, which his good sense enabled him to perceive could only be a source of grief to him: but the pain he had then experienced effectually dispelled the illusion, and he was fain to acknowledge that, strongly as he condemned her conduct in sacrificing his deep and true regard to (as he deemed it) a desire for wealth and the pomps and vanities of fashionable life, he yet, despite his reason, loved her as he felt he never could love any other woman; and the thought that through her husband’s neglect and incompetency she was exposed to the insidious advances of such a character as Horace D’Almayne weighed upon him, and grieved and irritated him until he could endure it no longer. “Come what may of it, I will see her and warn her; she shall not be led on by that scoundrel without knowing his true character!” he exclaimed, rising and hastily pacing the room. “For what purpose could she have accompanied him to such a neighbourhood as that?” he continued, musing; “he may possibly have got up some plausible lie to induce her to do so, merely to compromise her in the eyes of her husband--such a scheme is not unlikely to have occurred to his subtle brain. Yes, come what may, I will see her to-morrow; and, unless she is indeed lost to all better feeling, I will rouse her to a sense of duty, and thwart that scoundrel’s designs. If her husband should learn my interference, I care not; because, in his incapacity, he neglects the sacred trust he has undertaken, that is no reason why I should stand tamely by and see her sacrificed; no--I will save her in spite of herself! this shall be my revenge for the happiness which she has blighted. God grant my interference may not prove too late!”