oluntary movement, and he took his hand away.

"Will you think it over before you decide?" he said. "I will come to
you, as soon as I am presentable, for your answer. For the present,
would you not be wise to go back to your friends? I am too disreputable
to escort you, but I will watch you to the palace steps."

He got to his feet as he spoke. He was still absently mopping his face
with the scrap of lace he had taken from her.

Beryl stood up also. She wanted to be gracious to him, but she was
unaccountably shy. No words would come.

He waited courteously.

At last:

"Lord Ronald," she said with difficulty, "I know you are in earnest. But
do you--do you really wish to be taken at your word?"

He raised his eyebrows as if the question slightly surprised him.

"Certainly," he said.

Still she stood hesitating.

"I wish you would tell me why," she said, almost under her breath.

"Why?" he repeated uncomprehendingly.

"Yes, why you wish to safeguard me in this fashion," she explained, in
evident embarrassment.

"Oh, that!" he said slowly. "I suppose it is because I happen to care
for your safety."

"Yes?" she murmured, still pausing.

He looked at her with his straight grey eyes that were so perfectly true
and kind.

"That's all," he said, and smiled upon her reassuringly.

Beryl uttered a sharp sigh and let the matter drop. Nonentity though he
might be, she would have given much for a glimpse of his inner soul just
then.

X

For three days after the reception at Farabad Beryl Denvers returned to
her seclusion, and during those three days she devoted the whole of her
attention to the plan that Lord Ronald Prior had laid before her. It
worried her a good deal. There were so many obstacles to its
satisfactory fulfilment. She wished he had not been so pleasantly vague
regarding his own feelings in the matter. Of course, it was a
feather-brained scheme from start to finish, and yet in a fashion it
attracted her. He was so splendidly safe, so absolutely reliable; she
needed just such a protector. And yet--and yet--there were so many
obstacles.

On the fourth day Lord Ronald's card was brought to her. He did not call
at the conventional hour, and the reason for this was not hard to
fathom. He had come for her final decision, and he desired to see her
alone.

She did not know how to meet him or what to say, but it was useless to
shirk the interview. She entered her drawing-room with decidedly