life; after all, it was the one hope he had left; and an ultimate hope, we all know, is the thing we part with last. Thereupon he recovered himself. He became amiable and considerate--a change of demeanor which gave Justine a chill. She consented nevertheless to the return trip, and the day after arriving called at her father's house. When she got back to the hotel where they had put up Mistrial was waiting for her. In answer to his questions she told him that her father was willing to receive her, but her alone. "You must take your choice," he had said, she repeated--"You must take your choice." "And what is that choice?" Mistrial had asked. "I have made it," she answered, "and by it I will abide." But at this he had expostulated; and when, seeing at last what he meant--understanding that he would have her feign a compliance for the sake of coin which at her father's death she could come back and share with him--when, divining the infamy of his thought, she refused, he had struck her in the face. Because a man is not Chesterfield, it does not follow he is Sykes. Mistrial had never struck a woman before, and in this initial assault it is probable that he was actuated less by a desire to punish than by that force which overmasters him who has ceased to be master of himself. By instinct he was not a gentleman; for some time past he had not even taken the trouble to appear one; yet at that moment, dancing in derision before him, he saw the letters that form the monosyllable Cad. The sense of abasement he displayed was so immediate and sincere, that Justine, who, trembling with anger and disgust, stood staring in his face, read it there and understood. Instead of separating them forever, the blow reunited their hands. During the week that followed they were nearer to each other than they had been for months before. The reconciliation was seemingly complete. Mistrial made himself the lover again, and Justine permitted herself to be wooed. They left their hotel and found a flat--a furnished apartment in the neighborhood of Central Park; and there the storm departing placed a rainbow in its stead.