rida I would see her and force
from her lips the truth.

I rose quickly, placed the other letters in my pocket without opening
them, and drove down to the City, where I was compelled to keep a
business appointment.

At half-past three Egisto admitted me to Mrs. Shand's, and in reply to my
question, told me that the "Signorina," as he always called Phrida, was
in the morning-room.

Dressed in a pale grey gown, relieved with lace at the collar and wrists,
she rose slowly from a big armchair as I entered, and came across to me,
her face pale, drawn, and anxious.

"Ah! dearest," I cried. "I'm glad to see you better. Are you quite
yourself again now?"

"Quite, thanks," was her low, rather weak reply. "I--I felt very unwell
this morning. I--I don't know what was the matter." Then clinging to me
suddenly, she added, "Ah! forgive me, Teddy, won't you?"

"There is nothing to forgive, dear," was my reply, as, placing my arm
tenderly about her slim waist, I looked into the depths of those
wonderful dark eyes of hers, trying to fathom what secret lay hidden
there.

"Ah!" she ejaculated. "I know, dear, that though you affect to have
forgiven me--that you have not. How could you possibly forgive?"

"I am not angry with you in the least, Phrida!" I assured her quite
calmly. "Because you have not yet told me the truth. I am here to learn
it."

"Yes," she gasped, sinking into a chair and staring straight into the
fire. The short winter's day was dying, and already the light had nearly
faded. But the fire threw a mellow glow upon her pale, hard-set features,
and she presented a strangely dramatic picture as she sat there with head
bent in shame. "Ah! yes. You are here again to torture me, I suppose,"
she sighed bitterly.

"I have no desire in the least to torture you," I said, standing erect
before her. "But I certainly think that some explanation of your conduct
is due to me--the man whom you are to marry."

"Marry!" she echoed in a blank voice, with a shrug of her shoulders, her
eyes still fixed upon the fire.

"Yes, marry," I repeated. "You made an admission to me this morning--one
of which any man would in such circumstances demand explanation. You said
that my friend had forced you to go to Harrington Gardens. Tell me why?
What power does that man hold over you?"

"Ah, no! Teddy!" she cried, starting wildly to her feet. "No, no!" she
protested, grasping my hands frantically. "Don't ask that question. Spare
me that!