of mysterious passion which would carry
everything before it. But he did not mean that it should happen here. He
was too accustomed to self-command to forget himself in this presence.
He would hold these rampant dogs in leash till the hour of solitude;
then--a glittering smile twisted his lips as he continued to gaze, first
at the girl who had just entered his life, and then at the man he had
every reason to distrust, and with that firm restraint upon himself
still in full force, remarked, with a courteous inclination:

"The hour is late for further conversation. I have a room at the hotel
and will return to it at once. In the morning I hope to see my brother."

He was going, Doris not knowing what to say, Mr. Challoner not desirous
of detaining him, when there came the sound of a little tinkle from the
other side of the hall, blanching the young girl's cheeks and causing
Orlando Brotherson's brows to rise in peculiar satisfaction.

"My brother?" he asked.

"Yes," came in faltering reply. "He has heard our voices; I must go to
him."

"Say that Orlando wishes him a good night," smiled her heart's enemy,
with a bow of infinite grace.

She shuddered, and was hastening from the room when her glance fell on
Mr. Challoner. He was pale and looked greatly disturbed. The prospect of
being left alone with a man whom she had herself denounced to him as his
daughter's murderer, might prove a tax to his strength to which she had
no right to subject him. Pausing with an appealing air, she made him a
slight gesture which he at once understood.

"I will accompany you into the hall," said he. "Then if anything is
wrong, you have but to speak my name."

But Orlando Brotherson, displeased by this move, took a step which
brought him between the two.

"You can hear her from here if she chooses to speak. There's a point to
be settled between us before either of us leaves this house, and this
opportunity is as good as another. Go to my brother, Miss Scott; we will
await your return."

A flash from the proud banker's eye; but no demur, rather a gesture of
consent. Doris, with a look of deep anxiety, sped away, and the two men
stood face to face.

It was one of those moments which men recognise as memorable. What had
the one to say or the other to hear, worthy of this preamble and the
more than doubtful relation in which they stood each to each? Mr.
Challoner had more time than he expected in which to wonder and gird
himself for w