This letter completely broke the power of Clementina over her husband.  He asserted at once his authority, and insisted on returning immediately to New York, where he thought it likely Athel had gone, and where, at any rate, he could find suitable persons to aid him in his search for her—­a search which was henceforth the chief object of his life.

A splendid house was taken, and Mrs. Kurston at once assumed the position of a leader in the world of fashion.  Greatly to her satisfaction, Philip Lee was a favorite in the exclusive circle in which she moved, and she speedily began the pretty, penitent, dejected role which she judged would be most effective with him.  But, though she would not see it, Philip Lee was proof against all her blandishments.  He was not the man to be deluded twice by the same false woman; he was a man of honor, and detested the social ethics which scoffed at humanity’s holiest tie; and he was deeply in love with a woman who was the very antipodes of the married siren.

Yet he visited frequently at the Kurston mansion, and became a great favorite, and finally the friend and confidant of its master.  Gradually, as month after month passed, the business of the Kurston estate came into his hands, and he could have told, to the fraction of a dollar, the exact sum for which Clementina Gray sold herself.

Two years passed away.  There was no longer on Clementina’s part, any pretence of affection for her husband; she went her own way, and devoted herself to her own interests and amusements.  He wearied with a hopeless search and anxiety that found no relief, aged very rapidly, and became subject to serious attacks of illness, any one of which might deprive him of life.

His wife now regretted that she had married so hastily; the settlements promised had been delayed; she had trusted to her influence to obtain more as his wife than as his betrothed.  She had not known of a counter-influence, and she had not calculated that the effort of a life-long deception might be too much for her.  Quarrels had arisen in the very beginning of their life at Kurston, the disappearance of Athel had never been forgiven, and now Mrs. Kurston became violently angry if the settlement and disposing of his property was named.

One night, in the middle of the third winter after Athel’s disappearance, Philip Lee called with an important lease for Mr. Kurston to sign.  He found him alone, and strangely moved and sorrowful.  He signed the papers as Philip directed him, and then requested him to lock the door and sit down.

“I am going,” he said, “to confide to you, Philip Lee, a sacred trust.  I do not think I shall live long, and I leave a duty unfulfilled that makes to me the bitterness of death.  I have a daughter—­the lawful heiress of the Kurston lands—­whom my wife drove, by subtle and persistent cruelty, from her home.  By no means have I been able to discover her; but you must continue the search, and see her put in possession of her rights.”