And then he married Belle by foul means,
and the woman rose up in his path again, and he learnt that his wife
hated him with all the energy of her passionate heart. Then came
degradation after degradation, and the abandonment of principle after
principle, replaced only by a fierce craving for respectability and
rest, a long, long struggle, which ever ended in new lapses from the
right, till at length he saw himself a hardened schemer, remorselessly
pursued by a fury from whom there was no escape. And yet he knew that
under other circumstances he might have been a good and happy man--
leading an honourable life. But now all hope had gone, that which he
was he must be till the end. He leaned his head upon the stone railing
in front of him and wept, wept in the anguish of his soul, praying to
heaven for deliverance from the burden of his sins, well knowing that
he had none to hope for.
For his chance was gone and his fate fixed.
CHAPTER XVII
THE TIGRESS IN HER DEN
Presently a hansom cab came rattling down the street and pulled up at
the door.
"Now for it," said Mr. Quest to himself as he metaphorically shook
himself together.
Next minute he heard a voice, which he knew only too well, a loud high
voice say from the cab, "Well, open the door, stupid, can't you?"
"Certainly, my lady fair," replied another voice--a coarse, somewhat
husky male voice--"adored Edithia, in one moment.
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