does it matter to me if Owen Rose and his
wife die broken-hearted? Do you think I'd raise a finger to help them to
find one another? No. No, I tell you, a hundred, thousand times--_no_."

Suddenly the man who listened was filled with a great and marvellous
compassion. Even now, it seemed, his wife could not see the justice of
her fate; but somehow her childish comparison of her own position with
that of Owen and Toni Rose seemed pitiful, tragic, rather than evil.

"See here, dear." He spoke very gently. "You are overwrought. You don't
know what you are saying. I'm sure in your heart you only want to act
kindly, nobly, by those two unfortunate people. Tell me, where is Mrs.
Rose, and when--and how--has she communicated with you?"

"She wrote to me--I got her letter to-night." There was a note of
triumph in her voice which made him uneasy. "And do you know what I'm
going to do with it? I'm going to burn it--now--before your eyes."

During her speech she had been edging nearer and nearer the table; and
as she spoke the last words she made a frantic dart at the letter and
envelope which had lain there through all the conversation. Quick as she
was, however, she was almost too late.

Suddenly awake to her meaning, Herrick had swung round in time to see
her seize the letter; and in an instant his hand was on her wrist.

"Eva! What are you going to do?"

"This." With a wild gesture she tore her hand from his; but again he was
too quick for her.

"Listen to me." He spoke quickly, wild with anxiety lest she should
carry out her threat. "You are to give me that letter--at once. At once,
do you hear? I don't want to hurt you, but I will have that letter, and
you had better give it to me of your own free will."

"You shan't--you shan't." She spoke gaspingly, using all her force to
got away from him. Handicapped by his very superiority, Herrick did not
venture to put forth his full strength, but Eva, held back by no
scruples, fought desperately to release her hands that she might fling
the letter in the fire.

Quite suddenly she found herself free. Herrick, his very soul sickened
within him at the physical encounter, had released her abruptly,
trusting, perhaps, to some instinct of generosity which should lead her
to surrender in the moment of victory.

But he trusted vainly. The second she was free Eva flung herself on to
her knees by the brightly-blazing fire; and as Herrick, maddened by her
action, bent roughly over