"I cannot tell you," she said, "how comforting your words are. If you, a stranger, can estimate the truth so nearly, why should I torture myself because my husband is outrageously unjust? I will follow your counsel, Mr. Brett. If possible, Nellie and I will leave here to-morrow. Perhaps Mrs. Eastham may be able to come with us to town. Will you order my carriage? A drive will do me good. Come with Nellie and me, and stay here to dinner. For to-day we may dispense with ceremony." She left the room, walking with a firm and confident step. Brett turned to Miss Layton. "Capella is in for trouble," he said, with a laugh. "He will be forced to make love to his wife a second time." CHAPTER XIV MARGARET SPEAKS OUT During the drive the presence of servants rendered conversation impossible on the one topic that engrossed their thoughts. The barrister, therefore, had an opportunity to display the other side of his engaging personality, his singular knowledge of the world, his acquaintance with the latest developments in literature and the arts, and so much of London's _vie intime_ as was suited to the ears of polite society. Once he amused the ladies greatly by a trivial instance of his faculty for deducing a definite fact from seemingly inadequate signs. He was sitting with his back to the horses. They passed a field in which some people were working. Neither of the women paid attention to the scene. Brett, from mere force of habit, took in all details. A little farther on he said: "Are we approaching a village?" "Yes," answered Miss Layton, "a small place named Needham." "Then it will not surprise me if, during the next two minutes, we meet a horse and cart with a load of potatoes. The driver is a young man in his shirt sleeves. Sitting by his side is a brown-eyed maid in a poke bonnet. Probably his left arm follows the line of her apron string." His hearers could not help being surprised by this prediction. Helen leaned over the side and looked ahead. "You are wrong this time, Mr. Brett," she laughed merrily. "The only vehicle between us and a turn in the road is a dog-cart coming this way." "That merely shows the necessity of carefully choosing one's words. I should have said 'overtake,' not 'meet.'" The carriage sped swiftly along. Helen craned her head to catch the first glimpse of the yet hidden stretch of road beyond the turning. "Good gracious!" she cried suddenly. Even Margaret was stimulated to curiosity. She bent over the opposite side. "What an extraordinary thing!" she exclaimed. Brett sat unmoved, anything in front being, of course, quite invisible to him. On the box the coachman nudged the footman, as if to say: "Did you ever! Well, s'elp me!" For, in the next few strides, the horses had to be pulled to one side to avoid a cart laden with potatoes, driven by a coatless youth who had one arm thrown gracefully around the waist of a girl in a huge bonnet.