"It is I," he said; "I only who am to blame." "Spare yourself the trouble of making excuses," she answered; "they are needless.

Herbert Linley, the woman who was once your wife despises you." Her eyes turned from him and rested on Sydney Westerfield.
"I have a last word to say to _you_.

Look at me, if you can." Sydney lifted her head.

She looked vacantly at the outraged woman before her, as if she saw a woman in a dream.
With the same terrible self-possession which she had preserved from the first--standing between her husband and her governess--Mrs.Linley spoke.
"Miss Westerfield, you have saved my child's life." She paused--her eyes still resting on the girl's face.

Deadly pale, she pointed to her husband, and said to Sydney: "Take him!" She passed out of the room--and left them together.
THIRD BOOK..