ood grow, as the bright side of the moon grows, and turns the
dark side to gold.

"Can you do that, do you think, Anita? Can you see any excuse for me in
going against the world to pay it out for going against me and mine? If
you've been piecing bits of evidence together since Ruthven Smith spoke,
you'll have remembered that only heirlooms and things insured by, or
belonging to, public companies, have been taken; no poor people have been
robbed; and except in the case of Mrs. Ellsworth, where I wanted to see
her paid out for her treatment of you----"

"'Robbed'!" Catching the word, Annesley heard none of those that
followed. "_Robbed!_ Oh, it's not possible you mean----"

Her voice broke. With both hands against his breast she pushed him off,
and struggled to rise, to tear herself loose from him. But he would not
let her go.

"What's the matter? How have I hurt you worse than you were hurt already
by finding out?" he appealed to her, his arms like a band of steel round
her shuddering body. "When you heard the truth about the diamond, it was
the same as if you'd heard everything, wasn't it? You guessed Ruthven
Smith suspected--someone must have told him--Madalena perhaps. You
guessed he had some trick to play, and in the quietest, cleverest way you
checkmated him, without hint or help from any one. You saved me from
ruin, and not only me, but others. And on top of all that, when I hoped
for nothing more from you, you promised me forgiveness. That's what I
understood. Was I mistaken?"

"_I_ was mistaken," she answered, almost coldly; then broke down with one
agonized sob. "I thought--oh, what good is it now to tell you what I
thought?"

"You must tell me!"

"I thought you had bought the blue diamond, knowing it had been stolen,
but wanting it so much you didn't care how you got it. I didn't dream
that you were a----"

"That I was--what?"

"A thief--and a cheat!"

"My God! And now you know I'm both, you hate me, Anita? You must, or you
wouldn't throw those words at me like stones."

"Let me go," she panted, pushing him from her again with trembling,
ice-cold hands.

He obeyed instantly. The band of steel that had held her fell apart. She
stumbled up from the low sofa, and trying to pass him as he knelt, she
would have fallen if he had not sprung to his feet and caught her.

But recovering herself she turned away quickly and almost ran to a chair
in front of the dressing table not far off. There she flung h