onsequence, she
had learned to regard her duty before all things. She now conceived
she had a great duty to perform. She felt so helpless--so feeble in
the matter; but the voice of conscience held her to her mistaken
course.

"I believe I love you; I am sure I care for you very, very much,
but----"

"Then you will marry me." The man reached out to take her hand, but
she drew it back. His eager eyes shone in the stormy darkness in
which the room was bathed.

She shook her head.

"When Leslie Grey was murdered I made a vow that I would not rest
until the murderer was brought to justice. My vow is unfulfilled. I
could not marry you and be happy while this is so. Do you know what
marriage with you would mean? Simply that I should make no effort to
fulfil my vow to the dead. I cannot marry you now."

Iredale was staggered by the woeful wrong-mindedness under which he
considered she was labouring. For a moment he could scarcely find
words to express himself.

"But--but surely, child, you are not going to let this phantom of duty
come between us? Oh, you can never do such a thing! Besides, we would
work together; we would not leave a stone unturned to discover the
wretch who did him to death----"

He broke off. Prudence answered swiftly, and the set of her face
seemed to grow harder as she felt the difficulty of abiding by her
resolve.

"This is no phantom of duty, George. It is very much a reality. I
cannot marry you--until--until----"

Iredale was smiling now. The shock of the girl's strange decision had
passed. He saw something of the motive underlying it. Her sense of
duty seemed to have warped her judgment, and, with quiet firmness, he
meant to set it aside.

"And this is the only reason for refusing me?" he asked. He had become
serious again; he seemed merely to be seeking assurance.

"Yes. Oh, George, can't you see how it is?" She gazed appealingly
into his face. And the man had to keep a very tight hold upon his
feelings.

"I am afraid I am a little dense, child," he said gravely.

"I must make you understand," Prudence went on with nervous haste. Her
conscience urged her forward, whilst her love prompted her to set
aside all recollection of the dead and to bask in the love this man
offered her. She was a simple, womanly soul, trying with all the
strength of her honest purpose to resist the dictates of her love, and
to do that which seemed right in her own eyes. The task she had set
herself had seem