"Oh yes, yes! I know all about that; but I didn't believe that Ned was speaking the truth. I thought that he was throwing me over for that horrid girl. No, no! Don't look at me like that. She isn't a horrid girl now that she is engaged to you. I shall love Lady Prelice much more than I loved Mona Chent. Engaged--engaged!" Mrs. Rover made a ball of her handkerchief, and tossed it in the air. "What a rage Lady Sophia will be in." "She is in it already," said Prelice dryly. "I don't care." "Of course you don't. You're a man--a man. Oh, how I love a man. Not that my married life gives me any experience," she ended bitterly. "Constance," said Prelice seriously, "sit down, and let us talk quietly about your married life." "I don't wish to talk of it," she retorted, but nevertheless took the seat he pointed to. "You must. I am your friend, as you very truly say----" "I admit it, now that you are engaged to Mona. But I say, Dorry--yes, I'll call you Dorry now--I say, isn't it rather sudden? You have only known her a week or two." "It was a case of love at first sight," said the young man very earnestly. "Pooh! pooh! I don't believe in such a thing." "I didn't either until I experienced the sensation; but I really did love Mona from the moment I saw her in the dock, and it was only honour which held me back from speaking even earlier." "Honour! What honour?" asked Mrs. Rover contemptuously. "She was supposed to be engaged to Ned, you know. Only when I learned that the engagement meant nothing was I able to speak out." "You have very many scruples," said Mrs. Rover, with a shrug, "and evidently forget that all is fair in love and war." "That's a purely feminine view, Constance. Had Ned really been in love with Mona, and really engaged to her, I should have left England without saying a word." "So like a man," retorted Constance scornfully. "Why, if a dozen women loved Ned, I shouldn't give him up." "Constance, you forget that you are married." "I don't; Dolly never gives me a chance of forgetting." "Constance," Prelice spoke sharply, "you are a foolish, headstrong woman. Do you want to be disgraced?" "There is no chance of that," cried Mrs. Rover in a fury. "How dare you talk to me like that?" "Because I see you going headlong to ruin." "You see nothing of the sort. I am a loyal wife, to Dolly. Ned knows that I love him now as I loved him before my marriage, and you know, Dorry, as he does, how my marriage came about." "I know, but you ought to make the best of it." "I am making the best of it," cried Constance, rising to stamp her foot in a royal rage. "There is not a breath of scandal against my name. No one can couple my name and Ned's together. We scarcely ever meet; but we can't prevent our feelings." "Still," urged Prelice, in rather a futile manner, "since you have elected to become Mrs. Rover, you must consider your husband."