"It is what I should advise, if I wanted you to have a frightful quarrel--perhaps a complete rupture. If you found out he had deceived you, what would you really do?" Hyacinth stood up. "I should--no, I couldn't live without him!" She broke down. "I give you two minutes by the clock to cry," said Anne dryly, "not a second more. If you spoil your eyes and give yourself a frightful headache, what thanks do you suppose you'll get?" Hyacinth dried her eyes. "Nothing he says, nothing he tells me, even if he's perfectly open about the drive this afternoon, will ever convince me that he's not in love with her, and that's the awful thing." "Even if that were true, it's not incurable. You're his wife. A thousand times prettier--and twenty years younger! The longer he lives with you the more fond he'll grow of you. You are his life--and a very charming life--not exactly a dull duty. She is merely--at the worst--a whim." 'Horrid creature! I believe she's a witch,' Hyacinth cried. 'Don't let us talk it over any more. Just as if your own instinct won't tell you what to do far better than I ever could! Besides, you understand men; you know how to deal with them by nature--I never could. I see through them too well. I merely wanted to warn you--being myself a cool looker-on--to be prudent, not to say or do anything irrevocable. If you find you can't help making a scene, well, make one. It can't do much harm. It's only that making oneself unpleasant is apt to destroy one's influence. Naturally, people won't stand being bullied and interfered with if they can help it. It isn't human nature.' 'No; and it isn't human nature to share the person one loves with anyone else. That I could never do. I shall show him that.' 'The question doesn't arise. I feel certain you're making a mountain out of a mole-hill, dear. Well--cheer up!' Anne took her departure. As Cecil came in, looking, Hyacinth thought, particularly and irritatingly handsome, she felt a fresh attack of acute jealousy. And yet, in spite of her anger, her first sensation was a sort of relenting--a wish to let him off, not to entrap him into deceiving her by pretending not to know, not to act a part, but to throw herself into his arms, violently abusing Eugenia, forgiving him, and imploring him vaguely to take her away. She did not, however, give way to this wild impulse, but behaved precisely as usual; and he, also, showed no difference. He told her about the pictures, and said she must come and see them with him, but he said nothing whatever of having seen Lady Selsey. He was deceiving her, then! How heartless, treacherous, faithless--and horribly handsome and attractive he was! She was wondering how much longer she could keep her anger to herself, when by the last post she received a note. It was from the Selseys, asking her and Cecil to dine with them on an evening near at hand. Her hand trembled as she passed the letter to Cecil. 'Am I to refuse?' she asked. He answered carelessly--