out me. Anyone that wasn't stone blind could see that Miss Bliss
liked FitzGerald; he is a rattling good sort, and I believe they will
suit one another splendidly."

But Shafto had not come to "Heidelberg" to discuss FitzGerald and his
affairs; he wanted to talk to Sophy about herself.

"I do wish you would confide in Mrs. Gregory," he urged. "She is a
tower of strength. I don't think you are strong enough to tackle the
situation here."

"Oh, yes I am," she answered, rising; "it's just a question of
will-power and holding out. It was good of you to come like this, but
now I'm afraid I must send you away. This is the time I always sit
with my aunt." As she spoke she approached nearer to the long glass
door and, coming out of the gloom of the drawing-room, he saw by the
unsparing light the startling alteration in her appearance; she looked
so thin and worn, her eyes so large, her face so small--her whole
appearance wilted! When he thought of Mrs. Krauss, with her deadly
secret, her vampire hold on this girl; then of Krauss and his secret,
he could no longer restrain himself. All those influences which stir
the deepest emotions of the heart were silently operating on Shafto's.
His face assumed a set expression and bad grown suddenly pale.

"Sophy!" he exclaimed.

The word sent her heart galloping.

"I am sure you know that I--I adore you, but somehow I've never
ventured to tell you this till now----" He paused, as if the words
stuck in his throat, and meanwhile a huge brown insect of the bee tribe
entered, booming alarmingly, and knocking itself about the room. "But
now I've got to speak out and take risks. There is a terrible cloud
over this house--a cloud of shame! I know I am saying all this most
awfully badly, but I ask you to let me take you away from
'Heidelberg.'" He broke off abruptly and stood looking into her eyes.

Sophy, no longer pale, returned his gaze steadily. It was not now a
question of her aunt's secret, but of her own future. She cared very
much for her companion--why deceive herself?--and with the instinct
common to her sex, had been aware of his feelings for a long time. All
the same, she could not desert her post. She put up her thin hand (it
was trembling, Shafto could see) with the gesture of one who was
thrusting aside temptation.

"I don't understand about the cloud, but even so, my place is here.
Surely you will see that--and--I am, all the same, very--grateful.
I"--he