And this course would be his own course largely, since he had been appointed to be a force and strength in the Foreign Office which his chief did not supply.

He refrained, however, and, on the moment, remembered the promise he had given to Faith to help David.
A wave of feeling passed over him.

His wife was beautiful, a creature of various charms, a centre of attraction.

Yet he had never really loved her--so many sordid elements had entered into the thought of marriage with her, lowering the character of his affection.

With a perversity which only such men know, such heart as he had turned to the unknown Quaker girl who had rebuked him, scathed him, laid bare his soul before himself, as no one ever had done.