"And did he tell you when he proposes to bring----" she made a scarcely perceptible pause and then shot out the words--"his bride home. If it's to-morrow, I'll make Matt take me away to-night!" "He's not going to bring her home," said Matilda, quietly. "He's never coming back himself; they are going right away--out of England." "A good thing too!" said Mrs. Rigby. "He says that will be more respectful to me; he has considered my feelings, Kate--he has indeed." "Has he? Why----" she suddenly held up a warning finger, for there was a sound of footsteps in the passage; the sound stopped outside the door, and both women instinctively held their breath, united by a common fear of servants' gossip. There was a long pause, and then the handle of the door was slowly turned, and Mr. Rigby came into the room, his ruddy colour gone, or rather lying in curious streaks across his face, a nervous smile hovering over his lips. He shut the door behind him and looked, with a world of interrogation and anxiety in his eyes, at his wife. "You needn't smile," she said sharply; "this is no smiling matter!" His eyes fell; instinctively he turned to the other, the weaker vessel. But the reproof which Mrs. Rigby had just addressed to her husband penetrated Miss Wellow's brain. "I'm afraid I do look rather silly!" she said nervously, "wearing this dress, I mean. But, you see, knowing that now I shall never wear it, I thought I would put it on to-night." The odd collocation of her words passed unnoticed; indeed, Mr. Rigby, even had he wished to answer her, was not given time to do so, for his wife had turned on him and was avenging in his person the heaped-up wrongs of her sex. "It's all your fault, Matt! You were always against David going to London from the first, and you ought to have prevented his doing so! But no--you stood aside and did nothing! I suppose you guessed he might meet that--that----" her lips snapped together she would not soil them by uttering the word which to her mind alone described Rosaleen. As her husband did not answer, suspicion grew into certainty. "Did you know that she was there? Did you think he would see her?" she demanded. Mr. Rigby looked mildly at his Kate. "I didn't know anything, but I did just think it possible," he said. But his triumph, if triumph it was, was short-lived. "Why didn't you tell me then? A decent woman would never have thought of such a thing, but men have such disgusting minds!" cried his wife sharply. She added suspiciously, "But how did you learn what's happened? Did David write to you?" "He came into the office on his way back to the station," said Mr. Rigby, briefly. "And, Kate--I've promised to see to things for him. Rosy will join them"--he gave a little cough--"the day after to-morrow, and they will all sail for South Africa as soon as matters can be settled up. It's better so, my dear."