a desperate little cry and struck out to free herself. It was
hardly more than a gesture to have him away, but she was conscious, with
a lightning shock, that the blade moved under her hand. She heard
Teevan's shrill scream of fright and pain----

"You're killing me--you're killing me!"

But she saw only Ewing with covered face, and pushed the harder, lost to
all but her blind sense of opposition. Then she heard a new note in
Teevan's cry.

"Ewing! Ewing!"

She turned quickly, while Teevan retreated round a corner of the desk,
snarling his rage--turned to see Ewing.

CHAPTER XXV

MRS. LAITHE IS ENLIGHTENED

He stood just inside the door, hat in hand, regarding the scene with a
look that was troubled yet cool. She felt her way cautiously back to a
chair, afraid of fainting, and grasped it for support. Finding that her
hand still clutched the dagger, she dropped it with a shudder of
disgust.

Ewing shrewdly noted where the dagger fell, then his eyes flashed to
Teevan. There was a stain of blood on the silken shirt, and the little
man was staring down at this, incredulous.

"By God! she meant it!" he muttered. Then his eyes rose to meet Ewing's,
and a look of sudden malignance blazed into them.

"So you've come!" The cry, like the look, was full of hate. "You've come
in time, you whelp! Now you'll hear something you might have heard that
first night when I had to fuddle you with tales of a seizure. Now you'll
know----"

But the woman started toward him with a suddenness that broke his
speech.

"If you tell him he'll kill you--" The words came with a quick,
whispering intensity, and there was a rapt, almost rejoicing look on her
face, as of one eager for the deed.

Teevan looked scornfully to Ewing again, but was chilled by a certain
sharp, cold light in his eyes, the look of one alert and ready. His
words gave meaning to this look.

"If you tell me, I'll kill you," said Ewing. The sentence was evenly
uttered, and the tone was low, almost deferential, but the intention was
not to be mistaken.

Teevan laughed, flourishing a gesture of scorn for the threat.

"I'm no coward"--but he broke off, waiting, watching, with fear in his
eyes.

"I'll take this," said Ewing. He lifted the portrait tenderly from the
chair and thrust it under his arm with a protecting movement. Teevan
stared at this with an air of fine disdain, but did not speak.

The woman had been waiting for his words with parted lips.