Macheson excused himself, and, crossing the hall, entered the barely furnished apartment, on the left of the entrance. A young man was walking up and down with fierce, restless movements. He was pale, untidily dressed, and in his eyes there was a curious look of terror, as though all the time he saw beyond the walls of the room things which kept him breathless with fear. Macheson, pausing for a moment on the threshold, failed on the instant to recognize him. Then he closed the door and advanced into the room. "Hurd!" he exclaimed. "What do you want? What is the matter?" "Matter enough," Hurd declared wildly. "I have been a fool and a blackguard. Those two got round me--the old man and his cursed step-son! I must have been mad!" "What have you done?" Macheson asked sharply. "She treated me badly," Hurd continued, "made a fool of me before you, and turned me away from Thorpe. I wanted to cry quits with her, and those two got hold of me. Jean le Roi is her husband. She refused to see him--to hear from him. Letty Foulton is there, and I have been allowed to visit her. I knew the back way in, and I took Jean le Roi there--an hour ago--and he is waiting in her room until she comes home!" "Good God!" Macheson murmured. "You unspeakable blackguard!" He glanced at the clock. It was past midnight. "What time was she expected home?" he demanded. "Soon after eleven! She was only dining out. He--he swore that he only wanted to talk to her, to threaten her with exposure. She deserved that! But he is a madman. When I left him I was afraid. He carries a knife always, and he kept on saying that she was his wife. I left him there waiting--and when I wanted him to promise that there should be no violence, he laughed at me. He is hidden in her room. I thought that it was only money he wanted--but--but----" Macheson flung him on one side. He caught up his hat and rushed out of the club. CHAPTER XVI MAN TO MAN Hortense smiled softly to herself as she laid down the ivory-backed brushes. What did it mean, she wondered, when her mistress went out with tired eyes and pallid cheeks, and came home with the colour of a rose and eyes like stars, humming an old French love-song, and her feet moving all the time to some unheard music? It was years since she had seen her like this! Hortense knew the signs and was well pleased. At last, then, the household was to be properly established. A woman as beautiful as her mistress without a lover was to Hortense an incomprehensible thing. "You can go now, Hortense," her mistress ordered. "I will have my coffee half an hour earlier to-morrow morning." "Very good, madame," the girl answered. "There is nothing else to-night, then?" "Nothing, thank you," Wilhelmina answered. "You had better go to bed now. I have been keeping you up rather late the last few evenings. We must both turn over a new leaf."