I deceived Burke. He supplied the
money, and I put it back."

"Great Jove!" said Guy. He was looking at her oddly, almost
speculatively. "But Donovan never had any money to spare!" he
said. "He sends it all home to his old mother."

"He gave it to me nevertheless." Sylvia's voice had a scathing
note. "And--he pretended that it had come from you--that you had
returned it."

"Very subtle of him!" said Guy. He considered the point for a
moment or two, then swept it aside. "Well, I'll settle up with
him. It'll be all right. I always pay my debts--sooner or later.
So that's all right, isn't it? Say it's all right!"

He spoke imperiously, meeting her scorn with a dominating
self-assurance. There followed a few moments that were tense with
a mental conflict such as Sylvia had never deemed possible between
them. Then in a very low voice she made answer.

"No. It is not all right. Nothing can ever make it so again.
Please say good-bye--and go!"

He made a furious movement, and caught her suddenly and violently
by the wrists. His eyes shone like the eyes of a starving animal.
Before she had time to resist him, her hands were gripped behind
her and she was fast locked in his arms.

He spoke, his face close to hers, his hot breath seeming to consume
her, his words a mere whisper through lips that almost moved upon
her own.

"Do you think I'm going--now? Do you think you can send me away
with a word like that--fling me off like an old glove--you who have
belonged to me all these years? No, don't speak! You'd better not
speak! If you dare to deny your love for me now, I believe I shall
kill you! If you had been any other woman, I wouldn't have stopped
to argue. But--you are you. And--I--love you so."

His voice broke unexpectedly upon the words. For a moment--one
sickening, awful moment--his lips were pressed upon hers, seeming
to draw all the breath--the very life itself--out of her quivering
body. Then there came a terrible sound--a rending sound like the
tearing of dry wood--and the dreadful constriction of his hold was
gone. She burst from it, gasping for air and freedom with the
agonized relief of one who has barely escaped suffocation. She
sprang for the door though her knees were doubling under her. She
reached it, and threw it wide. Then she looked back. . . .

He was huddled against the wall, his head in his hands, writhing as
if in the grip of some fiendish torturer. Broken sounds