ke Adrien to know how you fooled poor Julia,
though it is over twenty years ago. I haven't forgotten, if you have,
how you took her over to Paris while I was away on my first tour, and
went through some form of marriage with her. You wouldn't like him to
know how you told her what you'd done, when there was no longer need to
keep it dark from your father, and of the attack of brain fever it
brought on, poor dear! You were a nice brute to her, you were, Jasper
Vermont; and it's a lucky thing for you and her too that when she
recovered her memory had gone, and she forgot you as well as the child."

Jasper stirred uneasily.

"I didn't think she would have cared so much," he said. "Besides, she's
all right now; she only forgets those few years."

"Lucky thing for you," repeated Ada dryly.

"What have you done with the child?" he asked suddenly.

His companion's face lighted up with malicious triumph.

"I've put her where you can't find her, anyhow," she said. "You shan't
break her heart, as you did her mother's."

"Oh, nonsense, Ada!" said Vermont contemptuously. "Don't begin to
rant--you're not on the stage now. I kept all my promises to you, at any
rate. I got you on at the Rockingham and I introduced you to Leroy; and
if you had only played your cards properly you would have hooked him by
this time. As it is, he'll marry his cousin, if you're not careful."

"If he does, it'll be your fault," she snarled. "And I'll tell Adrien
all, and how you're fooling him in other ways as well."

Jasper sprang across the room, his face working with anger. There was
something so deadly in the light of his dark eyes, such murderous hate
in every line of his face, that the woman shrank back and uttered a cry
of fear, instinctively glancing at a knife which lay on the table close
to Jasper's other hand.

How far Vermont's anger might have carried him she did not know, for, to
her intense relief, the door opened and Adrien Leroy himself entered the
room. He gazed in surprise at the two occupants, and in an instant
Jasper had regained his self-control. He did not release Ada's wrist,
but, smoothing his scowl into a sleek smile, he said with a careless
laugh:

"No, Ada, your arm is as slim as ever. The bracelet will just fit you."
He relaxed his grip as he spoke and turned to Leroy. "Ada has bet me
that the new bracelet you bought her is too small, Adrien," he explained
glibly. "She thought she was getting stout."

Adrien nodded