“I was always told,” broke in that lady, “that yachting was charming, but I tell you frankly I have never been more miserable in my life than I was on board your Evening Star.”

“Never mind, dear, you shall have a nice long rest before we start for the coast of Spain.”

And so Arthur soon settled down again into the easy tenor of Madeira life.  He now scarcely made a pretence of living at the hotel, since, during their cruise, Mildred had had a pavilion which stood in the garden luxuriously set up for his occupation.  Here he was happy enough in a dull, numb way, and, as the days went on, something of the old light came back to his eyes, and his footfall again grew quick and strong as when it used to fall in the corridors of the Abbey House.  Of the past he never spoke, nor did Mildred ever allude to Angela after that conversation at sea which had ended so strangely.  She contented herself with attempting to supplant her, and to a certain extent she was successful.  No man could have for very long remained obdurate to such beauty and such patient devotion, and it is not wonderful that he grew in a way to love her.

But there was this peculiarity about the affair—­namely, that the affection which he bore her was born more of her stronger will than of his own feelings, as was shown by the fact that, so long as he was actually with her and within the circle of her influence, her power over him was predominant; but, the moment that he was out of her sight, his thoughts would fall back into their original channels, and the old sores would begin to run.  However much, too, he might be successful in getting the mastery of this troubles by day, at night they would assert themselves, and from the constant and tormenting dreams which they inspired he could find no means of escape.

For at least four nights out of every seven, from the moment that he closed his eyes till he opened them again the morning, it would seem to him that he had been in the company of Angela, under every possible variety of circumstance, talking to her, walking with her, meeting her suddenly or unexpectedly in crowded places or at dinner-parties—­ always her, and no one else—­till at last poor Arthur began to wonder if his spirit took leave of his body in sleep and went to seek her, and, what is more, found her.  Or was it nothing but a fantasy?  He could not tell; but, at any rate, it was a fact, and it would have been hard to say if it distressed or rejoiced him most.

Occasionally, too, he would fall into a fit of brooding melancholy that would last him for a day or two, and which Mildred would find it quite impossible to dispel.  Indeed, when he got in that way, she soon discovered that the only thing to do was to leave him alone.  He was suffering acutely, there was no doubt about that, and when any animal suffers, including man, it is best left in solitude.  A sick or wounded beast always turns out of the herd to recover or die.