If  Grady  comes  after  her  I  shall  certainly  thrash
him,  and  the  result  will  be  a  fight.  If  he  does  not
come,  there  is  the  constant  worry  and  anxiety  about


THE  MAN  AT  THE  GATE.  211

her  fate.     We  shall  never  know  when  she  is  going  to
do  some  outrageous  thing  that  will  put  us  all  in  every
newspaper,  far  and  near.     In  fact,  I  don't  see  how  we
are  to  keep  things  quiet  at  all.     Some  one  will  be
sure  to  see  her.     She  is  imprudence  itself.      I   de-
spise a  woman  who  leaves  her  husband  for  any  cause ! r'
"  Grady  used  her  shamefully."
"  1  said,  for  any  cause,  and  I  mean  it."
"  He  struck  her,  Ray !     Cruelly  struck  her."
"  Bah !  Parents  strike  children,  and  love  them  all
the  time.     I  have  seen  Gloria  in  moods  when  a  man
must  be  a  saint  not  to  strike  her.     Husband?  can't
bear  every  thing."

"A  man  cannot  strike  a  woman  and  respect  her
after  the  blow.  A  woman  cannot  respect  a  man  who
strikes  her."

He  did  not  answer,  and  as  they  were  nearing  home,
they  rode  forward  silently  and  very  swiftly.  Cassia
was  reeling  with  exhaustion  when  Ray  lifted  her
from  her  saddle.  She  stopped  at  the  bucket  and
gourd  and  drank  a  deep  draught  of  water.  Then
she  opened  the  closed  door.  There  was  a  strange
stillness  in  the  house,  and  only  a  small  lamp  burning
at  the  foot  of  the  stairs — a  stillness  she  had  never
before  felt,  a  solemn  chill,  that  smote  her  to  the  heart.
She  almost  crept  up  stairs.  Her  wet  habit  dragged
her  down,  she  clung  to  the  balusters,  and  climbed


212  THE  LOST  SILVER  OF  BRIFFAULT.
