Presently, however, they entered--Mrs. MacDonald looking very much embarrassed, Faustina pale as death. Lord Vincent received them with grave politeness, and they all sat down to the table. It was then Lord Vincent said: "Mrs. MacDonald, Lady Vincent has this morning left this house upon which she has brought so much dishonor. It is also necessary for me to go to London to take measures for the dissolution of my marriage. I am, therefore, about to ask of you a great favor." "Ask any you please, my lord. I am very anxious to be of service to you in this awful crisis. And I will gladly do all in my power to help you," replied this very complaisant lady. "I thank you, madam. I thank you very much. The favor I had to ask of you is this--that you will kindly remain here with Mrs. Dugald, until some plan is formed for her future residence." "Surely, my lord, I will remain with great pleasure," answered this needy lady, who was only too glad to leave for a season the straitened home of her married sister, and take up her abode in this plentiful establishment. "Again I thank you, madam; thank you cordially on the part of my widowed sister as well as on my own part," said the viscount courteously. And this point being settled, the party dispersed. Mrs. MacDonald retired to her own apartments to write a note to her sister, requesting that her effects might be forwarded to Castle Cragg. Mrs. Dugald went to her boudoir to await there in feverish impatience the arrival of the viscount. He did not keep her long in suspense; he soon entered, locked the door behind him, and seated himself beside her. "She is gone--really gone?" whispered Faustina, in a low, eager, breathless voice. "Yes, my angel; you heard me say so." "Really and truly gone?" "Really and truly." "Oh, I am so glad! And her servants? Ah, I always hated those blacks! She has not left them behind?" "Certainly not," answered the viscount evasively. "Ah, what a relief! The house is well rid of them." "It is, indeed, my love." "But--but--but--the dead body?" whispered the woman in a husky voice, while her eyes dilated with terror. "It is gone." "Where? how?" "I tied a heavy weight to its feet and sunk it in the depths of the sea," replied the viscount, who felt no scruples in deceiving anyone, least of all his accomplice in crime. And this shows the utter falsity of the absurd proverb that asserts "there is honor among thieves." There can be no honor and no confidence in any league wherein the bond is guilt. Lord Vincent was completely under the influence of Mrs. Dugald, whom he worshiped with a fatal passion--a passion the more violent and enduring because she continually stimulated without ever satisfying it. Up to this time she had never once permitted the viscount to kiss her. Thus he was her slave; but, like all slaves, he deceived his tyrant. He had deceived Mrs. Dugald from the first; he habitually deceived her.