er refusal
was open to the eyes of the messenger.

When they were again in private she said: "We'll go if we have to
telephone the police to help us. And I'm going to wire Papa-Joe to
come and take us home."

"You are cruel to Tony, child."

"No, I'm not! He must understand, once for all, that I belong to
myself. I never really cared for him. Deep in my heart I was afraid of
him, and now he has grown so egotistical that he is willing to
sacrifice me to his own aims, and I hate him. I will not see him again
if I can avoid it."

The mother protested less and less strongly, for she was forced to
admit that something fine and true had gone out of her idol, and that
he now stood in a new and harsh light. All the hard lines of his face
appeared to her, and his pallor, his deep-set eyes were those of a
sick and restless soul. She no longer rejoiced at the thought of
giving her daughter into his hands.

Clarke was truly in a pitiable state of incertitude and despair. His
oration, his interdicted challenge, his book, his religion were all
swallowed in by the one great passion which now flooded and filled his
brain--his love for Viola. "She belongs to me," he repeated, as he
walked his room with shaking limbs, a dry, hard knot in his throat,
his eyes hot with tears that would not fall. "She must surrender
herself to me--finally and now--to-day, I will wait no longer. She
must leave this house at once--but she must go as my wife! She is
right. Pratt is a beast--a savage. He will rage--he will vilify us
both, but we will defy him. Our 'guides' will confound him. We are,
after all, not dependent upon him. We can go on--" The maid,
returning, handed him Viola's answer and went hastily out. He read it
and reread it till its finality burned into his brain, then dropped
into a deep chair and there lay for a long time in despairing stupor.

Was it all over, then? Was her final decision in that curt scrawl? She
had returned his own note as if with intent to emphasize her refusal
to see him, and yet only a few days ago she had assented to all his
plans, leaning upon his advice. What had produced this antagonism?
What evil influence was at work?

He rose on a sudden, fierce return of self-mastery, and went to Mrs.
Lambert's door and knocked, and when she opened to him demanded of her
a full explanation. "What is the matter? Is she sick or is she
hatefully avoiding me?"

"She's all upset, Anthony. Don't worry, she will see you by-