!"

A sudden thought came to me. It was an inspiration. "You are not going
of your own free will," I cried. "Some one has been influencing you!"

Her face was suddenly full of nervous terror. "Hush! hush!" she cried.
"He will hear you! Let me go now! Let me go, I beseech you!"

I held her hands. "It is Father Adrian who is sending you away," I
cried passionately. "He is my enemy. I hate him! Why should you obey
him? Stay with me! Do, do stay!"

She looked at me as one would look at an ignorant child who
blasphemes. "You are talking wildly! Father Adrian is far from being
your enemy. You do not understand!"

Her voice had changed; the note of sympathy had died away. I turned
away from the carriage door in despair. Father Adrian's power was
greater than mine.

"You can go!" I said bitterly. "You would have left me here without
one word, at his bidding. As you say, I do not understand."

She leaned forward, with a strange light in her eyes. "Child," she
whispered, "I am going to Cruta."

The carriage drove away and I walked back to the house. The air seemed
full of voices, and the grey rising mists loomed into strange shapes.
Cruta! She was going to Cruta! What power had this man in his hands to
send my lover from me with a heart like a stone, and this woman back
into the living hell from which she had just freed herself. It was my
turn now! Would he be able to subdue me to his bidding? The thought
made me shudder.

I ran upstairs into my room, and bathed my forehead, and re-arranged
my gown. Then I set my teeth together, and went down to him. It was to
be a battle! Well! I was prepared!

* * * * *

It is over now. I know his strength, and I know his weakness. What
passed between us I shall put down to-morrow. To-night I am weary.

CHAPTER XXII

"OH! HEART OF STONE, YET FLESH TO ALL SAVE ME"

This is exactly what happened after I regained the house. I went
upstairs for a few minutes to arrange my hair and bathe my eyes. Then
I walked straight down to the drawing-room, and I told myself that I
was prepared for anything that might take place.

Father Adrian did not hear me enter, so I had the advantage at the
onset of taking him by surprise. He was standing in the centre of
the hearthrug, with his arms folded and his eyes cast down upon the
ground. His eyebrows almost met in a black frown, and a curious grey
pallor had spread itself over his face. When I entered, nois