il he recovers sufficient consciousness to tell us. At present, he
is in a state of coma, recognizing no one, nothing that goes on about
him. He will not rouse to hear your voice; he will not know of your
presence; but I thought that it would comfort you to see him, to feel
that everything is being done for him that can be done."

"Ah, yes!" she sobbed. "Take me to him, Mr. Blaine! Thank God, thank
God that you have found him! Just to look upon his dear face again, to
touch him, to know that at least he still lives! He must not die, now;
he cannot die! The God who has permitted you to restore him to me,
would not allow that! Take me to him!"

So it was that a few short minutes later, Henry Blaine tasted the
first real fruit of his victory, as he stood aside in the quiet
hospital room, and with dimmed eyes beheld the scene before him. The
wide, white bed, the silent, motionless, bandage-swathed figure upon
it, the slender, dark-robed, kneeling girl--only that, and the echo of
her low-breathed sob of love and gratitude. His own great, fatherly
heart swelled with the joy of work well done, of the happiness he had
brought to a spirit all but broken, and a sure, triumphant premonition
that the struggle still before him would be crowned with victory.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE TRAP

"You are ready, Miss Lawton? Nerves steady enough for the ordeal?"
asked Blaine the following morning.

"I am ready." Anita's voice was firm and controlled, and there was the
glint of a challenge in her eyes. A wondrous change had come over her
since the previous day. With the rescue of the man she loved, and the
certainty that he would recover, all the latent, indomitable courage
and fighting spirit which had come to her as an heritage from her
father, and which had made of him the ruler of men and arbiter of
events which he had been, arose again within her. The most crushing
weight upon her heart had been lifted; hope and love had revivified
her; and she was indeed ready to face the world again, to meet her
enemies, the murderers and traducers of her father, and to give battle
to them on their own ground.

"In a few moments, a man will enter this library--a man whom you know
well. You will be stationed behind the curtains at this window here,
and you must summon all your self-control to restrain yourself from
giving any start or uttering a sound of surprise which would betray
your presence. While I talk to him, I want you to try with al