up for you against them all!" she answered in a dazed
whisper. "They told me--Jane Anderson with brutal frankness, Ella with
the heart-rending, timid confession of her own tragic life--they told me
that you were bad. I said they were liars. I said that they envied our
happiness. I believed that you were big and brave and fine. I stood by
you and married you!"

She paused and looked at him steadily. In a rush of suppressed passion
she seized his arm with a violence that caused his heavy eyelids to lift
in amused surprise.

"Oh, Jim--it's not true! It's not true--it's not true! For God's sake,
tell me that you're joking!--that you're teasing me! You can't mean it!
I won't believe it--I won't believe it!"

Her head sank until it rested piteously against his breast. He stood
with his face turned awkwardly away and then moved his body until she
was forced to stand erect.

He touched her shoulder gently and spoke soothingly:

"Come, now, Kid, don't take on so. I'll quit the business when I make my
pile."

She drew back instinctively and he followed:

"I'll never touch another penny of yours. There's blood on it!"

"Rot!" he went on soothingly. "It's good Wall Street cash--got it
exactly like they got theirs--got it because I was quicker and smarter
than the fellow that had it. I use a jimmy, they use a ticker--that's
all the difference."

She drew her figure to its full height.

"I'm going--Jim----"

"Where?"

His voice rasped like a file against steel.

"Home!"

"Your home's with me."

"I won't live with a thief!"

He stepped squarely before her and spoke with deliberate menace.

"You're--not--going!"

"Get out of my way!" she cried defiantly.

His big jaw closed with a snap and his figure became rigid. The candle's
yellow light threw a strange glare on his face, convulsed. The blue
flames of hell were in the glitter of his steel eyes.

Her heart sank in a dull wave of terror. She tried to gauge the depth of
his brutal rage. There was no standard by which to measure it. She had
never seen that look in his face before. His whole being was transformed
by some sinister power.

She was afraid to move, but her mind was alert in this moment of supreme
trial. She hadn't used her last weapon yet. The fact that he held her
with such terrible determination was proof of the spell she had cast
over him. She might save him. He couldn't have been a criminal long. She
formed her new battle-line with quick decis