ixedly at her, with twitching
face. She met his gaze without blinking, breathlessly awaiting his
reply.

Suddenly a tremor ran through him and his face set with desperate
decision.

"Yes, I know you are after me! I know you are having me
followed--spied upon!" There was a biting, contemptuous edge to his
tone. "Even if I were guilty, do you think I would be afraid of
exposure from you? Oh, I know the man you have sleuthing about on my
trail. Elijah Stone! And I once thought you were a clever girl!"

"You refuse, then?" she said slowly.

"I do! And I defy you! If your accusations against me are true, go out
and proclaim them to the city. I'm willing to stand for whatever
happens!"

She regarded his flushed, defiant face. She perceived clearly that she
had failed, that it was useless to try further.

"Very well," she said slowly. "But I want you to remember in the
future that I have given you this chance; that I have given you your
choice, and you have chosen."

"And I tell you again that I defy you!"

"You are a more hardened man, or a more desperate man, than I
thought," said she.

He did not reply upon the instant, but sat gazing into her searching
eyes. Before he could speak, the telephone at his elbow began to ring.
He picked it up.

"Hello! Yes, this is Mr. Blake.... Her temperature is the same, you
say?... No, I have not had an answer yet. I expect a telegram any
minute. I'll let you know as soon as it comes. Good-by."

"Is some one sick?" Katherine asked, as he hung up the receiver.

"My mother," he returned briefly, his recent defiance all gone.

Katherine, too, for the moment, forgot their conflict.

"I did not know it. There are so many cases, you know. Who is
attending her?"

"Doctor Hunt, temporarily," he answered. "But these Westville
doctors are all amateurs in serious cases. I've telegraphed
for a specialist--the best man I could hear of--Doctor Brenholtz
of Chicago."

His defiance suddenly returned.

"If I have seemed to you worn, unnerved, now you know the real cause!"
he said.

"So," she remarked slowly, "the disaster you have brought on Westville
has struck your own home!"

His face twitched convulsively.

"I believe we have finished our conversation. Good afternoon."

Katherine rose.

"And if she dies, you know who will have killed her."

He sprang up.

"Go! Go!" he cried.

But she remained in her tracks, looking him steadily in the eyes.
While they stood so, the s