the cushions and surveyed him through the glowing,
impassioned eyes which slowly closed as if to shut out temptation.

"You are a perfect soldier," she said, her lashes parting ever so
slightly.

"No more perfect than you," he cried. She remembered, with confusion,
her own masquerading, but it was unkind of him to remember it. Her
allusion to his uniform turned his thoughts into the channel through
which they had been surging so turbulently up to the moment that found
him tapping at her door.

He had not told her of his determination, and the task grew harder as he
saw the sparkle glow brighter and brighter in her eye.

"You are a brave soldier, then," she substituted. "It required courage
to come to Edelweiss with hundreds of men ready to seize you at
sight,--a pack of bloodhounds."

"I should have been a miserable coward to stay up there while you are
so bravely facing disaster alone down here. I came to help you, as I
should."

"But you can do nothing, dear, and you only make matters worse by coming
to me. I have fought so hard to overcome the desire to be near you;
I have struggled against myself for days and days, and I had won the
battle when you came to pull my walls of strength down about my ears.
Look! On my desk is a letter I was writing to you. No; you shall not
read it! No one shall ever know what it contains." She darted to the
desk, snatched up the sheets of paper and held them over the waxed
taper. He stood in the middle of the room, a feeling of intense
desolation settling down upon him. How could he lose this woman?

"To-morrow night Quinnox is to take you from the monastery and conduct
you to a distant city. It has all been planned. Your friend, Mr.
Anguish, is to meet you in three days and you are to hurry to America
by way of Athens. This was a letter to you. In it I said many things and
was trying to write farewell when you came to this room. Do you wonder
that I was overcome with doubt and amazement--yes, and horror? Ach, what
peril you are in here! Every minute may bring discovery and that would
mean death to you. You are innocent, but nothing could save you. The
proof is too strong. Mizrox has found a man who swears he saw you enter
Lorenz's room."

"What a damnable lie!" cried Lorry, lightly. "I was not near his room!"

"But you can see what means they will adopt to convict you. You are
doomed if caught, by my men or theirs. I cannot save you again. You
know now that I love you. I wo