When Mr. Drayton returned on the day that Sir Albert had seen Margaret, he came home sorely put out. He had such a complete belief in himself that it annoyed him to find, as he did find every day, that the loss of his manager was in all ways a loss to him. Nothing seemed to prosper just now, and he was annoyed and very much harassed. Entering the little hotel where he had left Margaret, he asked if a man he had expected to call, had called. The landlord, who was a stout, comfortable, little man, with a strong burr in his voice and a thickness, coming partly from natural guttural tendencies and partly from beer and pipes, answered in the negative, but he said that he thought the gracious lady had interviewed him in the garden. Surprised, he went to his wife immediately and asked if this was true. Margaret, who had resolved upon telling him that Sir Albert had been there, and who had spent much time since his departure in thinking whether she was bound to tell her husband what had passed, was taken by surprise, and a quick flush came into her usually pale face. Like many fair and delicate-looking women she coloured vividly and the flush coloured her throat. Her husband watched her with a suspicious and angry frown, very different from the laughing, mocking one he usually showed her. "Sir Albert Gerald passed this place accidentally," she said, "he did not know we were here. He spoke to me for a little while, then he went away." "Indeed! and what makes you turn as red as a peony, because I found this out, eh?" "You look so strange," she said, frightened a little by his manner. "Do I? Do you suppose I can look pleased when I see that this man's visit has such power over your cold and indifferent nature, and that for him you tremble and blush, while for me----? Where is this man?" and he rose and went towards the door. "He has gone to England," said Margaret, gently. "He passed by the purest accident and saw me; he did not know that I was married.... He went away at once." "Oh! and what did it matter to him whether you were married or unmarried?" he said, angrily; "was he your lover?" "I never knew it till----" Margaret was too truthful to shirk a direct question. "Well, be good enough to speak; if you do not----" and he moved close up to her. His threat gave Margaret courage. "I have no wish to hide anything from you," she said, coldly and with dignity; "I did not know that Sir Albert Gerald cared for me. I misunderstood something he said to me about not being free. He did not know where I was, and yesterday he passed by accident. He did not know anything. I told him I was now your wife and...." "And you have cried ever since he left, and that is why you grow white and red," he said. "Had you known he loved you would you have married me?" "Never!" said Margaret, looking at him directly. "Thank you," he said, "now I know you. I have been a fool all round!" He threw himself into a chair and gazed moodily before him.