In another minute he was gone.  She listened till she heard the front door close behind him, and then gave way to her grief.  Flinging herself upon the sofa, she covered her face with her hands and moaned bitterly, weeping for the past, and weeping, too, for the long desolate years that were to come.  Poor woman! whatever was the measure of her sin it had assuredly found her out, as our sins always do find us out in the end.  She had loved this man with a love which has no parallel in the hearts of well-ordered and well-brought-up women.  She never really lived till this fatal passion took possession of her, and now that its object had deserted her, her heart felt as though it was dead within her.  In that short half-hour she suffered more than many women do in their whole lives.  But the paroxysm passed, and she rose pale and trembling, with set teeth and blazing eyes.

“He had better be careful,” she said to herself; “he may go, but if he tries to marry Ida I will keep my word—­yes, for her sake as well as his.”

When Edward Cossey came to consider the position, which he did seriously, on the following morning, he did not find it very satisfactory.  To begin with, he was not altogether a heartless man, and such a scene as that which he had passed through on the previous evening was in itself quite enough to upset his nerves.  At one time, at any rate, he had been much attached to Mrs. Quest; he had never borne her any violent affection; that had all been on her side, but still he had been fond of her, and if he could have done so, would probably have married her.  Even now he was attached to her, and would have been glad to remain her friend if she would have allowed it.  But then came the time when her heroics began to weary him, and he on his side began to fall in love with Ida de la Molle, and as he drew back so she came forward, till at length he was worn out, and things culminated as has been described.  He was sorry for her too, knowing how deeply she was attached to him, though it is probable that he did not in the least realise the extent to which she suffered, for neither men nor women who have intentionally or otherwise been the cause of intense mental anguish to one of the opposite sex ever do quite realise this.  They, not unnaturally, measure the trouble by the depth of their own, and are therefore very apt to come to erroneous conclusions.  Of course this is said of cases where all the real passion is on one side, and indifference or comparative indifference on the other; for where it is mutual, the grief will in natures of equal depth be mutual also.