“You've made him unhappy, as well as Hilary. He loves you--but he wouldn't speak of it to you. Oh, no, he didn't tell me who it was, but I never rested till I found out. He never would have told me about it at all, or anybody else, but that I guessed it. I saw he was unhappy, and I calculated it wasn't Hilary alone made him so. One night he came in here, and I knew all at once--somehow--there was a woman to blame, and I asked him, and he couldn't lie to me. He said it wasn't anybody's fault but his own--he wouldn't say any more than that, except that he hadn't spoken to her. I always expected the time was coming when there would be--a woman. And I never thought the woman lived that he'd love who wouldn't love him. I can't see how any woman could help lovin' him. “And then I found out it was that railroad. It came between Sarah Austen and her happiness, and now it's come between Austen and his. Perhaps you don't love him!” cried Euphrasia. “Perhaps you're too rich and high and mighty. Perhaps you're a-going to marry that fine young man who came with you in the buggy. Since I heard who you was, I haven't had a happy hour. Let me tell you there's no better blood in the land than the Austen blood. I won't mention the Vanes. If you've led him on, if you've deceived him, I hope you may be unhappy as Sarah Austen was--” “Don't!” pleaded Victoria; “don't! Please don't!” and she seized Euphrasia by the arms, as though seeking by physical force to stop the intolerable flow of words. “Oh, you don't know me; you can't understand me if you say that. How can you be so cruel?” In another moment she had gone, leaving Euphrasia standing in the middle of the floor, staring after her through the doorway. CHAPTER XXVI. THE FOCUS OF WRATH Victoria, after leaving Euphrasia, made her way around the house towards Mr. Rangely, who was waiting in the runabout, her one desire for the moment being to escape. Before she had reached the sidewalk under the trees, Dr. Tredway had interrupted her. “Miss Flint,” he called out, “I wanted to say a word to you before you went.” “Yes,” she said, stopping and turning to him. He paused a moment before speaking, as he looked into her face. “I don't wonder this has upset you a little,” he said; “a reaction always comes afterwards--even with the strongest of us.” “I am all right,” she replied, unconsciously repeating Hilary's words. “How is Mr. Vane?”