nothing else."

Millicent with an effort wrenched herself free. "It is useless to
protest, for I would not believe your oath," she said, looking at him
steadily with contempt showing in every line of her pose. "Obey--you!
As the man I, with blind folly, abandoned for you warned me, you are
too abject a thing. Liar, thief, have I not said
sufficient?--adulterer!"

"Quite!" cried Leslie, who yielded to the murderous fury which had been
growing upon him, and leaning down struck her brutally upon the mouth.
"What I am you have made me--and, by Heaven, it is time I repaid you in
part."

Millicent staggered a little under the blow, which had been a heavy
one, but her wits were clear, and, moving swiftly to a bell button, the
pressure of her finger was answered by a tinkle below.

"I presume you do not wish to make a public scandal," she said thickly,
for the lace handkerchief she removed from her smarting lips was
stained with blood. Then, as their Chinese servant appeared in the
doorway, "Your master wants you, John."

Before Leslie could grasp her intentions she had vanished, there was a
rustle of drapery on the stairway, followed by the jar of a lock, and
he was left face to face was the stolid Asiatic.

"Wantee someling, sah?" the Chinaman asked.

Leslie glared at him speechless until, with a humble little nod, the
servant said:

"Linga linga bell; too much hullee, John quick come. Wantee someling.
Linga linga bell."

"Go the devil. Oh, get out before I throw you," roared Leslie, and
John vanished with the waft of a blue gown, while Millicent's book
crashed against the door close behind his head.

CHAPTER XXVI

A RECKLESS JOURNEY

The rising moon hung low above the lofty pines behind the city, when
Millicent sank shivering into a chair beside the window of her bedroom.
Under the impact of the blow her teeth had gashed her upper lip, but
she did not feel the pain as she sat with hands clenched, looking down
on the blaze of silver that grew broader across the inlet. She was
faint and dizzy, incapable as yet of definite thought; but confused
memories flashed through her brain, one among them more clearly than
the rest. Instead of land-locked water shimmering beneath the Western
pines, she saw dim English beeches with the coppery disk of the rising
moon behind, and she heard a tall man speak with stinging scorn to one
who cowered before him among the shadows.

"I was mad that night, and have pa