Whether his political association with Mrs.Brant had developed into a warmer solicitude, understood or ignored by her,--what were his hopes and aspirations regarding her future,--were by the course of fate never disclosed.

A man of easy ethics, but rigid artificialities of honor, flattered and pampered by class prejudice, a so-called "man of the world," with no experience beyond his own limited circle, yet brave and devoted to that, it were well perhaps to leave this last act of his inefficient life as it was accepted by the deputy.
Dismounting he approached the house from the garden.

He was already familiar with the low arched doorway which led to the business room, and from which he could gain admittance to the patio, but it so chanced that he entered the dark passage at the moment that Clarence had thrust Susy into the business room, and heard its door shut sharply.

For an instant he believed that Mrs.Brant had taken refuge there, but as he cautiously moved forward he heard her voice in the patio beyond.

Its accents struck him as pleading; an intense curiosity drew him further along the passage.