And the worst of it was that the woman was not a mere pretender! She had a fine, hard brain,--"as good as Arthur's--nearly--and he knows it.

It is that which attracts him--and excites him.

I can mend his socks; I can listen while he reads; and he used to like it when I praised.

Now, what I say will never matter to him any more; that was just sentiment and nonsense; now, he only wants to know what _she_ says;--that's business! He writes with her in his mind--and when he has finished something he sends it off to her, straight.

I may see it when all the world may--but she has the first-fruits!" And in poor Doris's troubled mind the whole scene--save the two central figures, Lady Dunstable and Arthur--seemed to melt away.