him, unless she had taken to her heels,
which was not Maud's way of meeting a
difficulty she could not have escaped.
Besides, it must come: she had foreseen
that; but her anger was still so hot, she
felt so shaken, so unsettled in her mind
as to what she should or should not say
and do, that she would fain have deferred
this meeting for a time, had it been
possible.

He came up straight to her, and said:

"Mary, can you forgive me? I think I
must have been drunk last night, or your
sharp words in the morning had made me
mad, I don't know which. I wasn't
myself, or I shouldn't have acted like such a
cursed fool as I did."

"It is of very little consequence now,
Mr. Cartaret, whether you were drunk or
not, after making me the common talk of
the servants' hall. My remaining here will
be difficult — perhaps impossible — owing to
your unmanly conduct. Nothing that I
could say, of course, would persuade Mrs.
Rouse (even if I stooped to defend myself)
that you had not very good ground for
believing you might treat me as you did
with impunity. . . . . If I stay here, it must
be to feel that I am despised by the women,
and subject to a similar insult from every
groom in your stable."

"By Jove! I should just like to catch
one, that's all! Let me know the first one
that dares to treat you with any disrespect,
and——"

"Oh, sir! you have yourself shown them
the way. Any one of them is as much
justified in behaving so as you were. Is it
to be expected that men in their . . . .
I mean, in my class of life, men who
have not had the advantages of education,
should treat a girl with more delicacy,
more respect, than their master shows
her?"

"What you say is perfectly true, Mary.
It only makes me more ashamed of myself,
for there is that about you which I am sure
would have prevented any groom from
insulting you. . . . . The fact is, you are
perfectly different from every other girl in
your station I ever saw, and——"

"And so you think no other girl in my
station would resent your conduct?" she
interrupted vehemently. "Your standard
of woman must be even lower than I
thought it, if you really believe that. But
you do not believe it. Of course, I know
perfectly well that if I were a lady, if I
were in your own rank of life, you would
not have treated me so . . . . it was only
because I was a servant you thought you
might try the experiment."

"You are quite mistaken," said Lowndes,
with, for an instant, a touch of the careless
sarcasm which was so common to him,
except latterly in his intercourse with Maud.
"You are quite mistaken. I have treated
more than one lady so, who has not taken
it at all amiss. . . . . But do not think I say
this to exonerate myself, for I knew you
were not one of this sort. . . . . Mary, you
must not leave my mother, and in the
course of time you will get to think better
of me, I hope."

"I have promised her that I will stay—
for the present; and therefore, unless I am
driven away——"

"How should you be driven away? Not
by those servants I should hope; and
certainly not by me."

"I don't know that, unless you bear in
mind our respective positions better than
you have done. The gossips of the house
are probably now full of the fact that you
have met me here, and charitably conclude
that it is an appointment, no doubt.
Henceforward it is absolutely necessary,
after your conduct, Mr. Cartaret, that you
should avoid me altogether. On these
conditions only shall I be able to remain
here."

"It is a hard penalty to pay for my folly,
Mary."

"Pray, do you consider what I have to
pay for it? To you the deprivation of the
right to bestow your idle half-hours upon
your mother's lady's-maid must be a severe
trial, no doubt! To her, the cost of all
this is simply loss of reputation, which is
not worth speaking of! It really maddens
me to think what we have to suffer from
the selfishness of men."

"You're too hard upon me, Mary; but
I suppose I must yield, since you insist on
it. But if I go away from home for a time,
will you promise me two things?"

She paused for a moment. "Name
them."

"One is that you will not be induced,
by any means that may be tried, to leave
my mother while l am absent. Of course,
that old Rouse won't rest satisfied with her
defeat; but you stick to my mother like a
leech, Mary; don't you leave her, let them
do what they will."

"Very well," she replied, after an
instant's reflection, "I think I can promise
that."

"The other is——" he turned towards
a tree, and began hacking at it with his