Then, as the hour came for the visitor to return home, Medora made an excuse to accompany him. She was going into Dene to see Daisy Finch and have supper with her and her mother—so she said; and together they went their way. She wasted no time with Mr. Knox, and having told him what she hungered to tell, changed her mind about Daisy Finch, and went home again. Upon the whole, Mr. Knox disappointed her at this meeting, yet looking back over their conversation, she felt not sorry it had taken place, though her face burned a little when she considered the full weight of some of the vatman’s remarks. He did not spare her; but she began to get accustomed to hard words now, and her sagacity told Medora that where there was blame, there was hope. To be past censure is to be past forgiveness. She began at once to Mr. Knox upon the subject of her husband, and her second sentence indicated the vast strides that her ambition had made. The whole picture of Medora’s future in her own eyes was now changed. The new vision looked wild indeed, and made even Medora wince a little to hear it in her own tongue; yet it did not astonish Philander as much as she imagined, though she had reached it sooner than he expected her to do so. “You see Mr. Dingle sometimes, don’t you, Mr. Knox?” began Medora. “I do, my dear, and you mustn’t object if I say I think very well of him. Curiously enough I think a lot of Mr. Kellock, too. Each have got very good points in his way, and you can learn from them as well as teach them. Of course, it’s a ticklish business being friends with both, but so I am, and hope to continue.” “For God’s sake, then, implore of Ned not to divorce me! Oh, Mr. Knox, you’re wise and old, but you may still remember what it was to be young. Everything’s gone if he divorces me—everything. I’ve been pixy-led, fooled—yes, I have. And I’ve ruined two good men, through no fault of theirs, or mine. It wasn’t Kellock’s fault, nor yet Ned’s; and I’ll swear on my knees it wasn’t mine—not altogether, because something not myself drove me and blinded me and dazed me.”