lence you may obtain possession
of the telegram. But I warn you that I shall not yield without a
struggle that will arouse the whole hotel. I am not coming with you, and
we part here and now. Oh, I am not in the least afraid."

Just at that moment it looked as if the scene of violence would take
place. With an oath Richford grasped the girl by the wrist and drew her
to him. A blow full in the face would have laid her senseless at his
feet, then he could have helped himself to that priceless telegram. But
Richford had been in the world long enough to knew how to control his
temper when it suited him to do so. He forced something in the semblance
of a smile to his lips.

"Don't let us discuss this question like two silly children," he said.
"You have fairly caught me out. I did go to your father this
morning--there was an urgent reason why I should see him. We need not go
into that now, for it was purely on matters of business. If you ask me
how I got into that room when the door was locked, I will tell you.
Before I thought of marrying you and setting up a house of my own, I had
that suite of rooms."

"Is all this material to our discussion?" Beatrice asked coldly.

"Yes, I think so. At any rate I never gave up the suite of rooms, and
the keys are still in my possession. That is how I got in to see your
father without anybody being the wiser. I was going to show him the very
telegram which has fallen into your hands. But I found that Sir Charles
was dead, and it was a great shock to me. I must have dropped that
telegram in my agitation and forgotten it. So far you follow me, do you
not?"

"I follow you," Beatrice said bitterly. "I quite understand; I admire
your restraint and your cunning. You reasoned it all out in a flash. If
you raised the alarm everybody would have known the truth in a few
minutes. And, that being so, there would have been no marriage. You took
all the risks, and fortune favoured the bold as fortune always does.
Nothing happened until it was too late, and I was married to you. But
there is one thing you failed to reckon upon--that my father is no
longer a pawn in the game."

Beatrice was speaking quietly and steadily enough; she felt that the
victory was in her hands now. And Richford had never coveted her so
passionately as he did at this moment when he realized that she was lost
to him for ever.

"My father's death leaves me free," the girl went on. "He is dead and
nobody can touch him. If