d.

"You admit it, then. All this teetotalism, this tone of moral
earnestness which you have introduced into your speeches--it's all to
win your wager."

"And if it is!" he cried. "Have I ever pretended to believe in any of
the whining sentimentality of the world? Have I not all along insisted
that everything is a matter of price!"

He had meant to have said exactly opposite to this when he saw these
men, but they had, in spite of himself, aroused him to a kind of
unreasoning anger.

"I think Miss Castlemaine ought to know," said Sprague.

"Perhaps you mean to tell her?" he asked.

"I have thought of it, certainly."

"Then let me tell you this, you fellows," he said, "if ever you do, I'll
crush you, as I would crush an empty egg-shell. I'll make life a hell
for you. I mean it! I have no fear of Winfield. He makes no profession
of religion, and therefore will act squarely; but I say this to you two
fellows--you, Sprague, and Purvis--if ever Miss Castlemaine hears of it,
I know it will come from one of you two. No one else knows of it, and I
shall quickly find out which of you two has told her. Well, I tell you
this, no lost soul in the hell about which you preach to sinners shall
suffer as you shall suffer."

He had taken the wrong line, and he knew it, yet he did not think, at
that time, of a way in which he could make them feel what he felt. His
pride forbade him telling them that he was really in earnest now, and
that he was ashamed of the compact they had made. He did try to bring
himself to it; but to go to Sprague and Purvis and to tell them that he
really loved Miss Castlemaine, and to ask them to refrain from
mentioning what had passed between them, was too much. Had they been men
of a different order, he might have done it; but after the way he had
regarded them, after he had laughed to scorn their religious notions,
and their professed faith in women, he could not. He would maintain his
old character, and he would make them fear to divulge the secret, which
had now become the great fear of his life.

For the first time Sprague felt that he had pierced the weak place in
Leicester's armour. He knew now that the man who had laughed at him was
afraid of him, and he determined to take advantage of the position he
held. It would help him to pay off old scores.

"If you will assure us that you are sincere in this new role you are
playing," said Sprague, "and if you will promise never to touch drink of
any