In the brilliant comedies of Wycherley, Moliere, Goldini, and Lope de Vega the betrayed husband is always made the scapegoat for the sins of the lovers, and all the sympathies of the dramatists are with the pretty wife and the gay deceiver. This was the case with poor Sir Rupert, for though his friends pitied him heartily for the manner in which his wife had behaved, yet they also laughed at him for the way in which he had allowed Calliston to carry on the intrigue under his very nose. Sir Rupert thought Calliston's visits were to his ward, but in reality she was merely used as a stalking-horse to conceal the designs of the young man on Lady Balscombe. When the blow came and the lady eloped, no one was surprised except the unsuspecting husband, who, having raised his wife from an obscure position to a brilliant one, and given her all she could wish for, never dreamt for a moment she would reward him in so base a manner. Sir Rupert, however, had no idea of playing the complacent husband in this case, and at once proceeded to take steps for a divorce. The difficulty was to serve the guilty pair with citations, for as the yacht had gone to the Azores there was no chance of doing so until she returned to England, or until she touched at some civilized port easy to be reached by the long arm of the law. The baronet sat in his library reading a letter from his lawyers, which informed him that Calliston's yacht, the _Seamew_, had put into a French port for repairs as she had been disabled in a storm, and that they had sent over a clerk to serve the citations at once. The intelligence seemed to afford Sir Rupert the greatest pleasure, and he threw down the paper with a grim smile. He was a tall, fine-looking man of forty-nine, with a soldierly carriage and iron-grey hair. "She won't find life with Calliston so happy as she did with me," he muttered, walking up and down the room. "He'll not marry her after she is free, and then she'll go from bad to worse. I was a fool to make her my wife; with the instincts she's got she would have been just as satisfied with being my mistress--come in," he said aloud, as a knock came to the door. It opened and Miss Penfold entered, followed by Norwood, at the sight of whom Sir Rupert seemed surprised, but said nothing. "This gentleman wishes to speak with you, Sir Rupert," said May, advancing towards the baronet. "He is----" "A lawyer, I know," replied Sir Rupert, coldly pushing a chair towards his ward, "I've seen him in court--and what is the object of your visit, sir?" he said, turning to Norwood. "I've called to see you about this arrest of Myles Desmond for the murder of Lena Sarschine," says Norwood, placing his hat on the table. "I know nothing about him," replied the baronet, looking angrily at May. "Why do you come to me for information?" "Because we want to save Mr. Desmond's life," said May boldly. "His life--a murderer?"