Illustrations

"THERE SHE WAITED WHILE THE DAWN STOLE UPON THE NIGHT"		[Frontispiece]
"THE MAN'S PULSES LEAPED ANEW"		[98]
"YOU NEEDN'T BE CROSS WITH ME, DIANA"		[174]
"'DEAR LADY,' HE SAID, GENTLY, 'I THINK YOU OUGHT TO GIVE WAY!'"		[256]
"ALICIA, UPRIGHT IN HER CORNER--OLIVER, DEEP IN HIS ARMCHAIR"		[332]
"SIR JAMES PLAYED DIANA'S GAME WITH PERFECT DISCRETION"		[462]
"SIR JAMES MADE HIMSELF DELIGHTFUL TO THEM"		[492]
"ROUGHSEDGE STOOD NEAR, RELUCTANTLY WAITING"		[514]

Part I

"Action is transitory--a step, a blow,
The motion of a muscle--this way or that--
'Tis done, and in the after-vacancy
We wonder at ourselves like men betrayed:
Suffering is permanent, obscure, and dark,
And shares the nature of infinity."
--THE BORDERERS.