ever meant so much in earnest, or will so surely
come to pass."

He left Fermor speechless, and really
overpowered by this denunciation. The gaunt
figure seemed to grow as it spoke. Its eyes
flashed, and there was an air of undefined
menace. Fermor knew not what to say or to
reply, but felt his strange influence, and shrank
away from collision with this wild being, whom
he now saw in a new light. But he went
forth upon the night in a storm of humiliation
and passion, scarcely knowing what he was doing.
He thought not so much of the degrading intimidation
which had been tried on him that night,
as of the unworthy "delation"—the complaint
that must have been made by Mrs. Fermor—
which he should register and never forgive. If
the world was in a conspiracy against him, he
had strength enough to do battle with it. But
for her—she who had dared to behave in that
way—he could not bring himself to think of it.
With that violent and dangerous Carlay it would
not do to quarrel openly, but to her he could
mark it in a cold, cutting, quiet way that she
should feel. So, when he came home that night
again, there was upon him a new, formal, chill sort
of manner, a kind of icicle politeness, under whose
touch she seemed to wither away. She had an
instinct what it came from, and with timidity
tried to make some excuse or extenuation, but
shrank away from his cold look of wonder and
colder disclaimer. On this night a domestic
Nemesis seemed to have entered into the house,
and from this night it was steadily busy at its
work.

CHAPTER X. CONSTRUCTING A WEB.

IN a day or two Miss Manuel's brougham was
standing at the door of the "Irrefragable," and
Miss Manuel herself inside, reflected in the
highly-polished official mahogany.

Mr. Speedy had come specially from his box
with yet more "irrefragable" literature, for the
bright lady seemed to be an eager student of
the little tables, and could not have enough of the
supposititious A who had insured for one hundred
pounds at the age of twenty-one years, and who
in a surprisingly short time had come in for
"bonuses," and other good things, to the amount
of five or six times his policy. Not without
interest, too, were the "fatal warnings" against
improvidence. Miss Manuel still could not make
up her mind.

"We should be delighted at any time," said
Mr. Speedy, "at any time, to purchase up the
policy at its full value."

"I know," said Miss Manuel, leaning on her
round hand. "That would be charming. If
poor Mrs. Carter could have done that," she
added, smiling.

Mr. Speedy's brow contracted; he only liked
dwelling on the bright side of the company's
affairs. "We don't accept Major Carter's," he
said, "as a pattern case. If we did, we might
close. We do not consider that he has behaved
well in the transaction. But our practice is to
shut our eyes to a certain extent, and maintain
an 'irrefragable' principle."

"Where did poor Mrs. Carter die?" said Miss
Manuel. "I knew them very well."

Mr. Speedy, not at all displeased to be seen
by the office on terms of agreeable familiarity
with a "fine woman," became almost
confidential.

"At an out-of-the-way place," he said, "Bangor;
and in, it seems, an out-of-the-way part of
Bangor. We had a scarcely recognised agent
there—a postmistress,I think—and we never
dreamed of business in such a place. However,
we received the proposal, and the Board accepted
it. After the receipt of the second premium we
received the claim. We made inquiries, but
everything seemed regular. We trusted to
those local doctors—a system I have always set
my face against. It was, of course, a damaged
Life at the beginning."

"But when I knew her," said Miss Manuel,
"she was quite healthy and quite strong. O, it
must have been a sudden thing, I assure you.
Poor Mrs. Carter!"

This was the third time she had called the
deceased lady "poor," and Mr. Speedy looked
at her a little earnestly. The bright lady looked
at him unsuspiciously. ("There was something
in her eyes," said Mr. Speedy, at dinner that
day, pursuing his narrative to Mrs. Speedy,
"about her eyes so strange and odd.") He
looked round to see were the clerks listening.
Suddenly the doors were flapping like
heavy mahogany wings, and a gay gentleman
came up—to be reflected in the world of
mahogany.

"Well! here I have come again," he said.
"You can't tire me. A large stock of patience
on hand—a reserve fund, like yours."

Miss Manuel turned round and knew the voice.
"Major Carter!" she said. It was Major Carter,
but he was altered. The gay young manner,
which lay on him like a bloom, was dried off; he
was not so bright, or, perhaps, so clean, and he
had a sharper and more earnest manner. He
started with astonishment and some confusion
as he saw her and Mr. Speedy bent together
over the counter.

"Miss Manuel!" he said. "So glad. Been
well, I hope? But—er—why here?" he added,
with a sort of sneering tone. "Ladies don't go
round to Life offices as they do shopping, eh?"

Mr. Speedy, who had been scanning him coldly,
and did not relish his interview being interrupted,
said now: "It is no use coming until the full
Board meets again. I told you so, Major Carter,
before."

"O, quite right, quite right," he said, hastily;
"I was only passing and looked in. And so you
are at this sort of thing? And why the
'Irrefragable?' No better office, of course," he
added, hastily. "It is melancholy to be obliged
to think of such things, and to have vile profit
associated with those whose memory we love.