pinion," threw back Nap. "If I am, Anne Carfax has
made me so."

"Anne Carfax," said Lucas very deliberately, "has done her best to make a
man of you. It is not her fault if she has failed. It is not her fault
that you have chosen to drag her friendship through the mire."

"Friendship!" broke in Nap. "She gave me more than that."

Lucas's brows contracted as if at a sudden dart of pain, but his voice
was perfectly level as he made reply: "Whatever she gave you was the gift
of a good woman of which you have proved yourself utterly unworthy."

Nap sprang to his feet. "Be it so!" he exclaimed harshly. "I am unworthy.
What of it? She always knew I was."

"Yet she trusted you."

"She trusted me, yes. Having cast out the devil she found in possession,
she thought there was nothing more to me. She thought that I should be
content to wander empty all my days through dry places, seeking rest. She
forgot the sequel, forgot what was bound to happen when I found none. You
seem to have forgotten that too. Or do you think that I am indeed that
interesting vacuum that you are pleased to call a gentleman?" He flung
his arms wide with a sudden, passionate laugh. "Why, my good fellow, I'd
sooner rank myself with the beasts that perish. And I'd sooner perish
too; yes, die with a rope round my throat in the good old English
fashion. There's nothing in that. I'd as soon die that way as any other.
It may not be so artistic as our method, but it's quite a clean process,
and the ultimate result is the same."

"Do you mind sitting down?" said Lucas.

Nap looked at him sharply. "In pain again?"

"Sit down," Lucas reiterated. "You can't do anything more than that. Now
will you take the trouble to make me understand what exactly are your
present intentions, and why?"

"Doesn't that letter tell you?" said Nap.

"This letter," Lucas answered, "is the desperate appeal of a very unhappy
woman who is in mortal dread of your murdering her husband."

"That all?" said Nap. The red glare of savagery flickered for an instant
in his eyes. "She has no fears on her own account then?"

"Will you explain?"

"Oh, certainly, if you need explanation. I mean that the death of Sir
Giles Carfax is no more than a stepping-stone, a means to an end. So long
as he lives, he will stand in my way. Therefore Sir Giles will go. And
mark me, any other man who attempts to come between us I will kill also.
Heaven knows what there is in her that attracts me, but t