looked up into his.

"But how do you----?"

"Some one, we both know whom, has maliciously been talking to your
father," Tresler went on, without heeding the interruption; "has been
lying to him to prejudice him against me--us. And your father has
accepted his tales without testing their veracity. Having done so, he
has spoken to you. What has passed between you I do not know, nor
shall I attempt to fathom. The result is more than sufficient for me.
You are unhappy; you have been unusually unhappy for days. You have
wept much, and now you bear signs of violence on your arms."

Diane averted her gaze, her head was bent, and her eyes were fixed
upon the broken lamp.

"Shall I go on?" Tresler continued. "Shall I tell you the whole story?
Yes, I had better."

Diane nodded without looking at him.

"You know most of it, but you may not have looked at it quite in the
same way that I do." His tone was very low, there was a great depth of
earnestness in it. "We are all in the midst of a foul conspiracy, and
that conspiracy it is for us to break up. Your father is threatened.
You know it. And you are threatened with marriage to a rascal that
should be wiped off the face of the earth. And this is the work of one
man whom we believe to be the scourge of the countryside; whom we call
Red Mask or Jake Harnach, according to when and where we meet him.
Now, is this all to go on without protest? Will you submit? Is your
father to be victimized?"

The girl shook her head.

"No," she said. Then with a sudden burst of passion she went on, only
keeping her voice low by the greatest effort. "But what can we do? I
have warned father. He has been told all that you have told me. He
laughed. And I grew angry. Then he grew angry, too. And--and these
things are the result. Oh, he hates you because he believes Jake's
stories. And he scorns all my accusations against Jake, and treats me
worse than some silly, tattling servant girl. How can we do anything?"

It was that last question that set fire to the powder-train. She had
coupled herself with him, and Tresler, seeking only the faintest
loophole, jumped at the opportunity it afforded him. His serious face
softened. A slow, gentle smile crept into his eyes, and Diane was held
by their caressing gaze.

"We can do something. We are going to do something," he said. "Not
singly, but together; you and I."

There was that in his manner that made the girl droop her eyelids.
There was a warmt