he had exposed his right hand on the
table, with the muzzle of his automatic turned toward Jean's breast.
Yet he was determined to have it out with Jean now.

"You are glad that the man who tried to kill me escaped?" he repeated.

The promptness and quiet decisiveness of Jean's answer amazed him.

"Yes, M'sieur, I am. But the shot was not for you. It was intended for
the master of Adare House. When I heard the shot to-night I did not
know what it meant. A little later I came to your room and found the
broken window and the bullet mark in the wall. This is M'sieur Adare's
old room, and the bullet was intended for him. And now, M'sieur Philip,
why do you say that I am responsible for the attempt to kill you, or
the master?"

"You have convicted yourself," declared Philip, his eyes ablaze. "A
moment ago you said you were glad the assassin escaped!"

"I am, M'sieur," replied Jean in the same quiet voice. "Why I am glad I
will leave to your imagination. Unless I still had faith in you and was
sure of your great love for our Josephine, I would have lied to you.
You were told that you would meet with strange things at Adare House.
You gave your oath that you would make no effort to discover the secret
which is guarded here. And this early, the first night, you threaten me
at the end of a pistol!"

Like fire Jean's eyes were burning now. He gripped the edges of the
table with his thin fingers, and his voice came with a sudden hissing
fury.

"By the great God in Heaven, M'sieur, are you accusing me of turning
traitor to the Master and to her, to our Josephine, whom I have watched
and guarded and prayed for since the day she first opened her eyes to
the world? Do you accuse me of that--I, Jean Jacques Croisset, who
would die a thousand deaths by torture that she might be freed from her
own suffering?"

He leaned over the table as if about to spring. And then, slowly, his
fingers relaxed, the fire died out of his eyes, and he sank back in his
chair. In the face of the half-breed's outburst Philip had remained
speechless. Now he spoke:

"Call it threatening, if you like. I do not intend to break my word to
Josephine. I demand no answer to questions which may concern her, for
that is my promise. But between you and me there are certain things
which must be explained. I concede that I was mistaken in believing
that it was you with whom I fought in the forest. But it was you who
looked through my window earlier in the nigh