Perhaps I have erred in keeping any secret from you, but the truth was too horrible to tell.

There have been times when the thought of it nearly drove me mad.

How, then, could I tell the wife I loved--the son I idolized--this cruel and shameful thing ?" The youthful Everard looked simply bewildered--Lady Kingsland excited, expectant, flushed.
She gently wiped the clammy brow and held a reviving cordial to the livid lips.
"My dearest, do not agitate yourself," she said.

"We will listen to all you have to say, and love you none the less, let it be what it will." "My own dear wife! half the secret you know already.

You remember the astrologer--the prediction ?" "Surely.