"I will tell nothing if you leave this house at once."
She dragged herself slowly towards the window, conscious that she was beaten. Firm on every point, reckless to the verge of despair, the thought that her own child should know her shame was too much even for her.
"Oh, God! is there no mercy?"
"None! Go!"
On the threshold of the window she stood, with her tall form drawn up to its full height, and her fierce eyes flashing with rage.
"You part the mother and the child. You drive me out of your house like a dog. But remember with whom you have to deal. To-night it is your turn; to-morrow it will be mine."
He looked at her with a scornful smile, and in a moment she was swallowed up by the darkness of the night, from whence she had emerged like a spectre of the past.
[CHAPTER XIX.]
THE OUTER DARKNESS.
"I stand outside in the bitter night,