Mr. Belcher was startled by the alarmed and angry look in her eyes.  “Time!” he said, fiercely; “Eternity, you mean.”

“You pretend to care for me, and yet you disobey what you know to be my wish.  Prove your friendship by leaving me.  I wish to be alone.”

“Leave you, with not so much as the touch of your hand?” he said.

“Yes.”

The General turned on his heel, took up his hat, paused at the door as if hesitating what to do; then, without a word, he went down stairs and into the street, overwhelmed with self-pity.  He had done so much, risked so much, and accomplished so little!  That she was fond of him there was no question in his own mind; but women were so different from men!  Yet the villain knew that if she had been easily won his heart would have turned against her.  The prize grew more precious, through the obstacles that came between him and its winning.  The worst was over, at least; she knew his project; and it would all come right in time!

As soon as he was out of the house, Mrs. Dillingham burst into a fit of uncontrollable weeping.  She had passed through the great humiliation of her life.  The tree which she had planted and nursed through many years of unworthy aims had borne its natural fruit.  She groaned under the crushing punishment.  She almost cursed herself.  Her womanly instincts were quick to apprehend the fact that only by her own consent or invitation, could any man reach a point so near to any woman that he could coolly breathe in her ear a base pro position.  Yet, with all her self-loathing and self-condemnation, was mingled a hatred of the vile man who had insulted her, which would have half killed him had it been possible for him to know and realize it.

After her first passion had passed away, the question concerning her future came up for settlement.  She could not possibly remain near Mr. Belcher.  She must not be exposed to further visits from him.  The thought that in the little account-book which she had copied there was a record that covered a design for her own destruction, stung her to the quick.  What should she do?  She would consult Mr. Balfour.

She knew that on that evening Mr. Belcher would not be at home, that after the excitements and disappointments of that day he would seek for solace in any place but that which held his wife and children.  So, muffled in a slight disguise, and followed by her servant, she stole out of her house during the evening, and sought the house of the lawyer.  To him she poured out her heart.  To him she revealed all that had passed between her and the proprietor, and to him she committed the care of the precious document of which she had possessed herself, and the little note that accompanied it.

Mr. Balfour advised her to leave the city at once, and to go to some place where Mr. Belcher would not be able to find her.  He knew of no place so fit for her in every respect as Number Nine, with his own family and those most dear to her.  Her boy and his father were there; it was health’s own home; and she could remain away as long as it might be necessary.  She would be wanted as a witness in a few months, at furthest, in a suit which he believed would leave her persecutor in a position where, forgetting others, he would be absorbed in the effort to take care of himself.