o convert you, and
you to convert Everard, try the arts of Cleopatra on me. Or, let me
convince you that you have made a blunder----"

"I do not wish to listen you," she snapped. "I will not be insulted a
second time."

"Who could insult the author of the _Confessions_? You are beyond
insult, Claire. I have read your book with the deepest interest. I have
read you between every line, which cannot be said of most of your
readers. I am not going to waste any words on you. I am going to give
you an alternative, which will do duty until I find rope enough to hang
you as high as Jack Sheppard. You know what you are, and so do I. The
friends of this young man who fell so nicely into your claws will be
anxious to keep his adventure with you very quiet."

A light leaped into her eyes. She had feared that outside, in the hall,
this man might have his hirelings ready to do her mischief, that some
dreadful plot had come to a head which meant her ruin. Light began to
dawn upon her. He laughed at her thoughts.

"One does not care to make public an adventure with such a woman as
you," said he affably. "A young man like that too. It would be fatal for
him. Therefore, you are to say nothing about it. You are not eager to
talk about your failure ... Cleopatra blushes for your failure ... but a
heedless tongue and a bitter feeling often get the better of sense. If
you remain silent, so shall I."

"Very generous," she answered calmly, coming back to her natural
coolness and audacity. "As you have all to lose, and I have all to gain
by a description of the trap set for me by your unclean emissary, your
proposition won't go. I shall place the matter before my friends, and
before the public, when I find it agreeable."

"When!" he mocked. "You know by this time that you are playing a losing
game, Claire. If you don't know it, then you are not smart enough for
the game. Apart from that, remember one thing: when you speak I shall
whisper the truth to the excitable people whom your dirty book is
harrying now."

"I am not afraid of whispers, quite used to them in fact," she drawled,
as if mimicking him.

"I see you are not smart enough for the game," and the remark startled
her. "You can see no possible results from that whisper. Did you ever
hear of Jezebel and her fate? Oh, you recall how the dogs worried her
bones, do you? So far your evil work has been confined to glittering
generalities. To-day you took a new tack. Now you must ans