'Be patient, Mr. Wetter, please,' said Humphrey Statham calmly; 'I have a great deal more to say. This lady had been made the victim of a most shameful, most diabolical fraud--the innocent victim, mind, of a fraud which robbed her of her good name, and blasted her position among honest men and women. She was ignorant as well as innocent, she knew not how basely she had been deceived; her friends kindly conspired to hide from her the blackness of her surroundings, and to keep her, poor child, in a fool's paradise of her own. And they succeeded until you came.' 'I was the serpent, in point of fact, in this fool's paradise that you speak of.' 'The character fits you to a nicety, Mr. Wetter, and you kept up the allegory by opening the eyes of the woman and causing her to know the position she occupied! Which was a genial, gentlemanly, generous act!' 'Look here,' said Mr. Wetter, 'there is a certain amount of right in what you say, though you are sufficiently hard upon me. But you know all is fair in love.' 'Love!' cried Statham scornfully. 'Well,' said Mr. Wetter, 'it is the most euphonious name for the feeling. All is fair in love or war, and I give you my word that when I spoke to Mrs. Claxton, I fully believed that she knew perfectly well the position she was occupying, and had accepted it of her own free will.' 'Do you believe that now?' 'No, I do not. I am a tolerably good hand at reading character, and there was something in her look and manner which convinced me that her statement, that she really believed Calverley to be Claxton, and imagined herself to be his wife, was true.' 'And yet you had the insolence to offer her--' 'Don't let us use harsh words, please, Mr. Statham. This is all very fine talking, but the fact remains the same. This lady was John Calverley's mistress; nothing can put that aside or blot that out. What I proposed to do was, to make her very rich, and happy, and comfortable. Could a man be found who would do any more? Is there any one who would be such a fool as to marry her?' 'Yes,' said Humphrey Statham, rising from his seat and confronting his companion; 'yes, Mr. Wetter,' he said, speaking very slowly, 'there is one man whose dearest hope in life it is to marry Alice Claxton. You are a man of the world, Mr. Wetter, and having said that much, I need add nothing to make you understand that it will be best and safest for you to respect her for the future. I came here this evening to impress this upon you, and having done so, I take my leave. Goodnight.' And as he walked out, he saw by the expression of Mr. Wetter's face that no farther interference on the part of that gentleman was to be looked for. CHAPTER XI. RECOMPENSE. The next morning, at about twelve o'clock, Martin Gurwood arrived in Pollington-terrace, and found Alice alone in the drawing-room.