he wished me to tell you, for all the wrong he has done to you and to me."
Again Maud paused.
"I sent for him; I said I must see him. I could not speak to a solicitor about what had happened or what was going to happen. And we have come to this arrangement. He is to go away altogether, for six months; he has gone, in fact. He is to communicate neither with you nor me. At the end of six months he will come back, and—and do what he wishes. At least, as far as my part goes he will. If he wishes to—to go to you, I will make that possible. And if he decides to come back to me, I shall take him back. Of course, he did not go until he knew that you did not intend to defend yourself."
Again there was a long pause; this time Lucia broke it.
"It was I who tempted him, and led him on," she said. "I—I. He resisted at first; oh, for a long time he resisted, but I was the stronger. You had better know that, so that if he comes back to you, it will make things easier.
"And he will come back to you," she said. "In his heart I believe he hated himself for yielding; but, but I am beautiful."
Then, at the thought of all she had lost, and of the absolute and utter blankness and loneliness that stretched in front of her, all the worst of her nature sprang to the surface, usurping the place of the best. She laughed suddenly and harshly.
"Take my leavings," she said. "Try and make them up into something that is more like a man. I was just his mistress, it appears, to be discarded at his pleasure."
And then she stopped, for she saw Maud's face of agonized despair, saw, too, the gesture of her hand, as if she would keep Lucia off. And Lucia again remembered all that Maud had been, all that she was, and out of the nethermost part of her own hardness and selfishness she called to her.
"Oh, Maud, forgive me, forgive me," she cried. "If you only knew! You are not wicked, you have not been found out, and it is all that intolerable shame that makes me like this. I want to be sorry for all the wrong I have done; I do want that. And Charlie will come back to you. I know it. And, and I hope you will be happy again. You will have your husband and your child. You love them both."
Maud smiled at her, with hands held out.
"You mustn't separate yourself then, Lucia, from me," she said. "You must bear with my wanting to be friends still,
