After all, Royall had profited more than she had by the successful plot. He had won Daisie for his wife, but she had lost Dallas Bain, for whom she had dared and risked so much. Almost seven months had flown, and she had never heard of him again since he had left Gull Beach in the gray dawn, driven away by her cruel scheming. He might be dead and buried, for all she knew. And for all her beauty and pride and wealth, no one need have envied Lutie Fleming, she was secretly so unhappy over the aching pain of her wild and hopeless love. True, the meeting last night with Lord Werter had turned her thoughts in his direction; but she did not really suspect his identity with the man she loved, despite the wonderful likeness. It was no wonder, for she had been accustomed to think of Dallas as poor and obscure, tutored thereto by Royall Sherwood. But the fact remained that she could have found consolation very quickly with Lord Werter, had she been given the chance; but Annette Janowitz appeared to her in the light of a dangerous rival. So her mood of to-day was certainly not a pleasant one, and the temptation came to her to seek consolation in her troubles by sharing them with her Cousin Royall. It was only fair that he should bear his part, especially in paying the price of the deception, since he had profited by it more than she had done. So when the girls told her what a bright, sunny day it was, and how the warm sun had melted away all the snow in the streets, and begged her to go wheeling with them, she readily consented, saying she would like to go and see Royall about some tiresome business. Donning her becoming bicycle suit, the pretty blonde joined them on their pleasant spin, and they remained out for something over an hour, when an increasing chilliness in the air warned them that the treacherous spring weather was not to be depended on for long. “Let us go home,” said Daisie; and the others were very willing. They had had many such pleasant trips together last fall, but this one stayed in their memory ever afterward. They remembered it so well, because it seemed like the calm before the storm, like the last bright gleam of day before the gloom of night. “Lutie, you may stay and talk to Royall while I go upstairs to change my dress,” said Daisie, when they had gone in to see her husband, and found him very bright and animated, listening to his companion’s spicy reading of some political news. Mrs. Fleming beamed on Reed Raymond presently with her kindest smile, and observed: “If you have been cooped up here all day with Royall, you had better go out for a stroll and some fresh air while I amuse him.” He thanked her, and went, deciding that he would call on Lord Werter and tell him how well he was succeeding in his mission. Mrs. Fleming chatted on indifferent subjects a while longer, then cautiously led up to the subject nearest her heart, and presently blurted it all out to her silent, startled listener.