“I am terribly anxious, dearest, about James,” he said. “We had an absurd quarrel this morning, and he rushed off to Hullaway in a rage. I found him in the inn. He had been drinking, but it was not that which upset him. He had not taken enough to affect him in that way. I am very, very anxious about him. I forget whether I’ve ever told you about my mother? Her mind--poor darling--was horribly upset before she died. She suffered from more than one distressing mania. And my fear is that James may go the same way.” Gladys hung her head. In a strange and subtle way she felt as though the responsibility of this new catastrophe rested upon her. Her desperate passion for Luke had so unnerved her, that she had become liable to be victimized by any sort of superstitious apprehension. “How dreadful!” she whispered, “but he seemed to me perfectly natural just now.” “That was Lacrima’s doing,” said Luke. “Lacrima is at the bottom of it all. I wish, oh, I wish, she was going to marry James, instead of that uncle of yours.” “Father would never allow that,” said Gladys, raising her head. “He is set upon making her take uncle John. It has become a kind of passion with him. Father is funny in these things.” “Still--it might be managed,” muttered Luke thoughtfully, “if we carried it through with a high hand. We might arrange it; the world is malleable, after all. If you and I, my dear, put our heads together, Mr. John Goring might whistle for his bride.” “I _hate_ Lacrima!” cried Gladys, with a sudden access of her normal spirit. “I don’t care two pence about Lacrima,” returned Luke. “It is of James I am thinking.” “But she would be happy with James, and I don’t want her to be happy.” “What a little devil you are!” exclaimed the stone-carver, slipping his arm round her waist. “Yes, I know I am,” she answered shamelessly. “I suppose I inherit it from father. He hates people just like that. But I am not a devil with you, Luke, am I? I wish I were!” she added, after a little pause. “We must think over this business from every point of view,” said Luke solemnly. “I cannot help thinking that if you and I resolve to do it, we can twist the fates round, somehow or another. I am sure Lacrima could save James if she liked. If you could only have seen the difference between what he was when I was called back to him just now, and what he became as soon as he set eyes upon her, you would know what I mean. He is mad about her, and if he doesn’t get her, he’ll go really mad. He _was_ a madman just now. He nearly frightened that fool Titley into a fit.” “I don’t _want_ Lacrima to marry James,” burst out Gladys. Luke in a moment drew his arm away, and quickened his pace. “As you please,” he said. “But I can promise you this, my friend, that if anything does happen to my brother, it’ll be the end of everything between _us_.” “Why--what--how can you say such dreadful things?” stammered the girl.