asked of him, and more; and she would have
to keep her promise, but--had she accomplished enough that was good for
Maxime, to pay for the sacrifice? It would be a sacrifice--a greater one
than she had known at first, greater than, somehow, she had realized
until to-day. She must pay the price; and Maxime--what of him?

If his innocence could not be proved, through the dead woman miraculously
come alive, he could never, at best, go back to France; and as the crime
of which he was accused came under the extradition treaty, he would be
safe nowhere. He must--as he himself had said--lead "a hunted life,"
wherever he might be. Neither money, nor influence, nor yearning
sister-love, nor--the love of friends who would give their heart's blood
to save him, could shield Maxime Dalahaide from the sword of Damocles,
ever suspended, ever ready to fall.

* * * * *

When the Marchese Loria received Lady Gardiner's telegram from Sydney, he
was stunned. "Leaving here to-morrow," the message ran; "destination
unknown."

Unknown to her the destination might be, but it was not unknown to him.
He was almost as sure that the _Bella Cuba_ was bound for New Caledonia,
as if Dr. Grayle had allowed Kate Gardiner to send her desired word from
prison-land; and although he had constantly assured himself that if
Virginia did go there it could do no harm, now that he was morally
certain she would go, he quivered with vague apprehension.

At first, he could not force his mind to concentrate itself upon the
intricacies of the situation. He walked up and down his room, like a
caged animal, trying to think how, if it were by moving heaven and earth,
he could prevent Virginia Beverly and the convict Max Dalahaide from
coming together. Then, with the thought that they might meet seething in
his head, he would stop abruptly and say to himself, as he had said so
often before: "Nonsense; you are a fool. They cannot come together. There
is everything against it." Still, the root of fear was there, and grew
again as soon as burned away.

If he chose, he might send a warning to the prison authorities at New
Caledonia. He could say that the _Bella Cuba_ was a suspicious craft, and
ought not to be allowed in the harbour for a single hour. But to do this,
he would be obliged either to proceed to Paris and give satisfactory
reasons why such proceedings should be taken, or wire the warning message
himself, signing his own name. N