uent than words.

She held the glass to Kieff's lips with a contemptuous air, and
when he had drunk she emptied the dregs upon the floor and marched
back into the office.

"Now," Burke said again, "you will apologize."

And so at last in a voice so low as to be barely audible, Saul
Kieff, from whose sneer all women shrank as from the sting of a
scorpion, made unreserved apology to the girl he had plotted to
ruin. At Burke's behest he withdrew the vile calumny he had
launched against her, and he expressed his formal regret for the
malice that had prompted it.

When Burke let him go, no one attempted to offer him help. There
was probably not a man present from whom he would have accepted it.
He slunk away like a wounded beast, staggering, but obviously
intent upon escape, and the gathering shadows of the coming night
received him.

A murmur as of relief ran round the circle of spectators he left
behind, and in a moment, as it were automatically, the general
attention was turned upon Sylvia. She was still leaning against
Kelly, her death-white face fixed and rigid. Her eyes were closed.

Burke went to her. "Come!" he said. "We will go up."

Her eyes opened. She looked straight at him, seeing none beside.
"Was that how you treated Guy?" she said.

He laid an imperative hand upon her. "Come!" he said again.

She made a movement as though to evade him, and then suddenly she
faltered. Her eyes grew wide and dark. She threw out her hands
with a groping gesture as if stricken blind, and fell straight
forward.

Burke caught her, held her for a moment; then as she sank in his
arms he lifted her, and bore her away.

CHAPTER IV

THE EVIL THING

When Sylvia opened her eyes again she was lying in the chair by the
open window where she had waited so long the previous evening. Her
first impression was that she was alone, and then with a sudden
stabbing sense of fear she realized Burke's presence.

He was standing slightly behind her, so that the air might reach
her, but leaning forward, watching her intently. With a gasp she
looked up into his eyes.

He put his hand instantly upon her, reassuring her. "All right.
It's all right," he said.

Both tone and touch were absolutely gentle, but she shrank from
him, shrank and quivered with a nervous repugnance that she was
powerless to control. He took his hand away and turned aside.

She spoke then, her voice quick and agitated. "Don't go! Please