There's a husband in the case--a feeble old Anglo-Indian, who can't live very long.

Don't look so glum, old fellow; there has been nothing wrong, not a word that all the world might not hear; but there are signs and tokens by which a man, without any vanity--and heaven knows I have no justification for that--may be sure a woman likes him.

In short, I believe that if Adela Branston were a widow, the course would lie clear before me, and I should have nothing to do but go in and win.

And the stakes will be worth winning, I assure you." "But this Mr.Branston may live for an indefinite number of years, during which you will be wasting your life on a shadow." "Not very likely.

Poor old Branston came home from Calcutta a confirmed invalid, and I believe his sentence has been pronounced by all the doctors.