d, realising what I had done, as I hardly had
realised it till this moment, I suffered torture in his arms.

Even if, by something like a miracle, we were saved from ruin, nothing
on earth could wash the stain from my heart, which Raoul believed so
good, so pure.

What can be more terrible for a woman than the secret knowledge that to
hold a man's respect she must always keep one dark spot covered from his
eyes? Such a woman needs no future punishment. She has all she deserves
in this world. My punishment had begun, and it would always go on
through my life with Raoul, I knew, even if no great disaster came. Into
the heart of my happiness would come the thought of that hidden spot;
how often, oh, how often, would I feel that thought stir like a black
bat!

I could no longer rest with my eyes shut, at peace after the storm. I
shuddered and sobbed, though my lids were dry, and Raoul tried to soothe
me, thinking it was but my excitement in playing for the first time a
heavy and exacting part. He little guessed how heavy and exacting it
really was!

"Darling," he said, "you were wonderful. And how proud I was of you--how
proud I am. I thought it would be impossible to worship you more than I
did. But I love you a thousand times more than ever to-night."

It was true, I knew. I could see it in his eyes, hear it in his voice.
Since his dreadful misfortune in losing the diamonds, since I had
comforted him for their loss, and insisted on giving him all I had to
help him out of his trouble, he had seen in me the angel of his
salvation. To-night his heart was almost breaking with love for me, who
so ill deserved it. Now, I had news for him, which would make him long
to shout for joy. If I chose, I could tell him that the jewels were
safe. He would love me still more passionately in his happiness, which I
had given, than in his grief; and I would take all his love as if it
were my right, hiding the secret of my treachery as long as I could. But
how long would that be? How could I be sure that the theft of the treaty
had not already been discovered, and that the avalanche of ruin was not
on its way to blot us for ever out of life and love?

The fear made me nestle nearer to him, and cling tightly, because I said
to myself that perhaps I might never be in his arms again: that this
might be the last time that his eyes--those eyes that are not
cold--might look at me with love in them, as now.

"Suppose all these people out the