n. I have nothing more to do with you or your schemes,
whatever they may be. But I came here to find you and to tell you this
one thing. Felicia says that you are her uncle, she scouts the idea
of your being an impostor, she speaks of you as tenderly and
affectionately as a girl well could. That is all very well. Yet, in
the face of it, I am here to impress this upon you. I love your niece,
Mr. Delora,--some day or other I mean to make her my wife,--and I will
not have her dragged into anything which is either disreputable or
against the law."

"Has my niece encouraged you?" Delora asked calmly.

"Not in the least," I answered. "She has been kind enough to give me
to understand that she cares a little, and there the matter ends.
Nothing more could be said between us in this state of uncertainty.
But I came here for this one purpose. I came to tell you that if by
any chance Felicia should be mistaken, if you play her false in any
way, if you seek to embroil her in your schemes, or to do anything by
means of which she could suffer, I shall first of all shake the life
out of your body, and then I shall go to Scotland Yard and tell them
how much I know."

"About Mr. Tapilow, also?" Delora asked, with a sneer.

"Do you think I am afraid to take the punishment for my own follies?"
I asked indignantly. "If I believed that, I would go and give myself
up to-morrow. Louis can give me away if he will, or you. I don't care
a snap of the fingers. But what I want you to understand is this.
Felicia is, I presume, your niece. I should have been inclined to have
doubted it, but I cannot disbelieve her own word. I think myself that
it is brutal to have brought such a child here and to have left her
alone--"

"She is not alone," Delora interrupted stiffly. "She has a companion."

"Who arrived yesterday," I continued. "She has spent some very bad
days alone, I can promise you that."

"I have telephoned," Delora said, "twice a day--sometimes oftener."

I laughed ironically.

"For your own sake or hers, I wonder," I said. "Anyhow, we can leave
that alone. What I want you to understand is this, that if there is
indeed anything illegal or criminal in your secret doings over here,
you must take care that Felicia is safely provided for if things
should go against you. She is not to be left there to be the butt of a
great criminal action. If I find that you or any of your friends are
making use of her in any way whatever, I swear that