BLACK SHEEP!

BY THE AUTHOR OF "LAND AT LAST," "KISSING THE ROD,"
&c. &c.

BOOK III.

CHAPTER XII. THE FALLING OF THE SWORD.

STEWART ROUTH left his house in Mayfair at
an early hour on the day following that which
had witnessed the eccentric proceedings and
subsequent resolution of Jim Swain. Things
were prospering with him; and the vague
dread which had fallen upon him had been
dissipated. Hope and defiance divided his mind
between them. His speculations were all doing
well; there was money to be had—money easy
to be realised, on which he could lay his hand
at very short notice, and there was triumphant,
successful love. So much had hope to feed on
—assuredly no insufficient aliment. Defiance
reared itself against Fate. The time was
drawing near, approaching with fearfully rapid
strides, when the contingency, long contemplated,
successfully eluded for a period beyond
his expectation, kept off by such unlikely accidents
and combinations as might almost have
justified his daring faith in his luck, but recognised
of late as inevitable, must be realised,
when the identity of the murdered man must
be known, and the perilous investigation must
begin. So be it, he was ready to meet the
danger if it must be met ; but he hoped no such
necessity would arise. His influence over the
beautiful woman whom he now really loved with
all the passion he had at first feigned was
becoming every day stronger and more complete.
He knew that the strength of his nature had
subdued her ; she had no pride, she had only
vanity ; and Stewart Routh made the mistake
to which selfish and interested natures are
prone. He forgot to calculate upon the
influence of selfishness and calculation when their
employ must necessarily be in opposition to him.
His egotism injured the balance of his intellect,
and now he had not the aid of Harriet's
calm, cool, unerring judgment in his scheme
to restore that balance. His position with
regard to Harriet was the most troublesome topic
of his thoughts just now. He tried to forget it
often, but he did not succeed ; not that any
sentimental obstacle to the most complete
oblivion presented itself. Routh never bestowed
a backward glance upon the life of self-sacrifice
and devotion to him, of fidelity which,
however depraved in its manifestations, was still
fidelity, fond and true as the best man who ever
lived an honest and virtuous life in the face of
heaven and earth might be proud to inspire,
which had been that of the woman whom he
had deliberately betrayed, and was now
prepared deliberately to abandon. He would have
sneered at such a suggestion as a contemptible
weakness. Harriet had been undeniably useful
to him. He did not attempt to deny the fact to
himself; but circumstances had arisen which
prevented his making use of her in the future,
and consequently, as this instrument was
unfortunately living, intelligent, peculiarly acute,
and animated by one of the strongest of human
passions, it had become dangerous. Harriet
had been agreeable to him too — it has been said
that he had loved her after his fashion ; but this
had been all over months ago ; and the deadest
of all mortal things, to a man of Stewart
Routh's stamp, is a dead love ; it has not even
the dreary faculty of ghostliness — it cannot
haunt. The uncomplaining, active, hard-working,
inventive, untiring comrade, the passionately
loving wife, the shrewd, unscrupulous,
undaunted, steel-nerved colleague, was nothing
more to him now than a dangerously sharp-
witted, suspicious woman, who knew a great
deal too much about him, and was desperately
in his way. The exhilaration of his spirits and
the partial intoxication of his new passion had
done away with the fear of Harriet which had
taken possession of him, but they had intensified
his dislike, and one thought presented itself
with peculiar distinctness to Stewart Routh as
he went Citywards that morning. It was :

"If it was only to get out of her sight, to
be rid of her for ever, what a relief it would
be."

He had been at some pains to keep up
appearance with his wife since their return to
London. To the step which he meditated a
quarrel with her was in no way necessary; and
in the event of his failing to bring his plans to
maturity before the inevitable discovery, it was
all important that they should be agreed on
the line of action to be taken. Harriet could
not, indeed, oppose him successfully in his
determination, if the occasion should arise, to