Dare was leaning against the mantle-piece, which was draped in Mrs. Alwynn's best manner, with Oriental hangings having bits of glass woven in them. He was looking into the curtained fire, and did not turn when she entered. Even at that moment she noticed, as she went towards him, that his elbow had displaced the little family of china hares on a plush stand which Mrs. Alwynn had lately added to her other treasures. "I think you wished to see me," she said, as calmly as she could. He faced suddenly round, his eyes wild, his face quivering, and coming close up to her, caught her hand and grasped it so tightly that the pain was almost more than she could bear. "Are you going to give me up?" he asked, hoarsely. "I don't know," she said; "it depends on yourself, on what you are, and what you have been. You say she is not your wife?" "I swear it." "You need not do so. Your word is enough." "I swear she is not my wife." "One question remains," said Ruth, firmly, a flame of color mounting to her neck and face. "You say she is not your wife. Ought you to make her so?" "No," said Dare, passionately; "I owe her nothing. She has no claim upon me. I swear--" "Don't swear. I said your word was enough." But Dare preferred to embellish his speech with divers weighty expressions, feeling that a simple affirmation would never carry so much conviction to his own mind, or, consequently, to another, as an oath. A momentary silence followed. "You believe what I say, Ruth?" "Yes," with an effort. "And you won't give me up because evil is spoken against me?" "No." "And all is the same as before between us?" "Yes." Dare burst into a torrent of gratitude, but she broke suddenly away from him, and went swiftly up-stairs again to her own room. The release had not come. She laid her head down upon the table, and Hope, which had ventured back to her for one moment, took her lamp and went quite away, leaving the world very dark. There are turning-points in life when a natural instinct is a surer guide than noble motive or high aspiration, and consequently the more thoughtful and introspective nature will sometimes fall just where a commonplace one would have passed in safety. Ruth had acted for the best. When for the first time in her life she had been brought into close contact with a life spent for others, its beauty had appealed to her with irresistible force, and she had willingly sacrificed herself to an ideal life of devotion to others. "But we are punished for our purest deeds, And chasten'd for our holiest thoughts." And she saw now that if she had obeyed that simple law of human nature which forbids a marriage in which love is not the primary consideration, if she had followed that simple humble path, she would never have reached the arid wilderness towards which her own guidance had led her.