ate you now. Oh, Flossy, is there no
way of setting things straight without letting anybody know?"

Florence sneered at the almost child-like appeal.

"For myself," she said, "I have a resource which will not fail me even
if you do your worst. Do you think that I would ever live to bear public
disgrace? Not for twenty-four hours! Remember this, Enid Vane--the day
when the whole story, as we know it, comes to light will be my last. If
you betray me, you will be my murderess. You will have killed me as
truly as ever--as ever a cruel assassin killed your father Sydney Vane!"

With a gesture of her arm, as if to keep the girl from touching her, she
swept towards the open door. Enid did not attempt to stop her. A
sensation of awe, of affright even, seized her as she watched the white
figure gliding steadily along the passage until the darkness hid it from
her view. Then she sank down on the bed once more, trembling and afraid.
The desperate boldness which had for a long time possessed her was
succeeded by a reaction of horror and dismay. How could she hide herself
from Flossy's hate--how save herself from Flossy's sure revenge?

As she thought of these things, she knew by certain well-marked
symptoms that one of her old attacks of almost cataleptic stupor was
coming upon her. In the old days she would have succumbed to it at
once. But Evandale's words rang in her ears. What had he said? He
thought that she might control herself--that she might prevent these
nervous seizures from overcoming her. She sat up, and by a violent
effort roused herself a little. Then she tried the experiment of
walking across the room to the open window, where the fresh air
revived her. A glass of water, a few turns across the room, and, quite
suddenly, she was once more mistress of herself. She had conquered the
feeling of faintness--conquered the terrible rigidity of limb which
used to attack her at these times. The Rector's words had proved the
tonic that her weakened nerves seemed to require. For the first time
in her life she was a conqueror. There was no reason why she should
not conquer again and again until her nerves recovered their tone and
the fatal tendency was overcome.

New strength came to her with this consciousness. She lighted a lamp and
donned a dressing-gown; then, after a little deliberation, she went to
Parker's room. She found the maid up and partially dressed. There was a
scared look on the woman's face which caused Enid