'No,' he returned reluctantly, for it pained him to enter on this subject with her; 'she has refused to be set free. As far as your son is concerned, the engagement is broken; but my cousin declares her intention of remaining faithful to him.' 'I knew it--I knew it as well as though you had told me,' returned Mrs. Blake with strong emotion; 'Audrey Ross is not the girl to throw a man over. Oh! I love her for this. She is a darling, a darling, but'--relapsing into her old melancholy--'they will never let her marry him--never, never!' 'I am afraid you are right.' 'No, he is doomed; my poor boy is doomed. If you see him, what is there that you can say to comfort him?' 'I shall not try to comfort him. I shall bid him do his duty. Comfort will come to him in no other way.' 'Shall you speak to him of me?' 'Yes, certainly. If I have any influence, I shall bring him to you before an hour is over.' Then she caught his hand and the blood rushed to her face. 'God bless you for this!' she whispered. 'Go; do not keep me waiting. Go, for Heaven's sake!' 'You must promise me one thing first: that you will control yourself. Think of him, of the day and the night he has passed. He will not be fit for any scene. If you reproach him, you will only send him from you again.' 'I will promise anything--everything--if you will only bring him.' And now her eyes were wet; it seemed as though he had given her new life. She sat erect; she was no longer like a marble image of despair. 'If I can only see him, if he will let me speak to him! but it is this emptiness--this blank, this dreadful displeasure--that is shutting me out from him, that is killing me by inches.' And here she put her hand to her throat, as though the words suffocated her. 'Be calm and quiet, and all may yet be well,' he returned in a soothing voice; 'I will do what I can for you and him too.' And with a reassuring look he left her. What had become of his dislike? He felt he no longer disliked her. She was false--falser than he had thought any woman could be; she had qualities that he detested, faults that he, of all men, was most ready to condemn; but the one spark of goodness that redeemed her in his eyes was her love for her son. He knocked somewhat lightly at Cyril's door, but there was no answer; but as he repeated it more loudly, Cyril's voice impatiently demanded his business. 'It is I--Burnett. Will you let me speak to you a moment, Blake?' And then the door was unlocked, and Cyril stood aside to let him enter; but he uttered no greeting, neither did Michael at once offer his hand. He threw a hasty glance round the room as Cyril relocked the door; the bed had not been slept in that night--that was plainly evident--but the crushed pillow and the rug flung across the foot proved clearly that he had thrown himself down fully dressed when weariness compelled him.