n Europe! I pay all expenses and incidentals. What will make you
reasonably sure against fate--in advance?"

Alan Hawke dropped his eyes. Gentleman once, he was ashamed of the
sordid implied threat of abandonment.

"Five thousand pounds!" he whispered. The stony-faced woman dashed off a
check.

"Bring that man to me at once!" she cried, "and then go down to
Grindlay's agency here, and get your money! Go openly!"

"Shall I come back with him?" demanded Hawke.

"No, bring him here, and then excuse yourself."

Alixe Delavigne watched the carriage dash away. Hawke was on his mettle
at last, and he brutally enjoyed the little tableau, when Hugh Fraser
Johnstone impatiently tore open "Madame Berthe Louison's" note. Hawke
observed significantly that he had been shown into a small room, suited
to semi-menial interviews. The additional slight maddened him. The clash
of glasses and shouts of a gay crowd of military convives rose up in a
merry chorus within. Across that banquet hall's draped doors the thin,
invisible barrier of "Coventry" shut out the bold social renegade.
"She'll have to wait, Hawke!" roughly said Hugh Johnstone, moving toward
the door.

"By God! she shall not wait a minute, you damned old moneybags!" cried
the ruined soldier, who had long forfeited his caste--his cherished
rank. "You treated her like a brute to-day! She is a lady, and you can't
play fast and loose with her! You insulted me by closing your damned
door and sending me your offensive letter. Go to her now! If you do not,
I'll send my seconds to you, and if you don't fight, by Heaven, I'll
horsewhip you like a drunken pandy!" and the fearless renegade barred
the door.

"Don't be a fool, Hawke," faltered Johnstone. "She has taken the whole
thing the wrong way. I'll join you in a moment. I've got these men on my
hands. What did she tell you?"

"Nothing!" harshly cried Hawke, "and I wash my hands of you and her.
Settle your intrigues as you will!"

Not a word was spoken, as Alan Hawke gravely opened the door to Madame
Berthe Louison's reception room. Hugh Johnstone's yellow face paled as
the Major breaking the silence, coldly said: "Madame! I have broken a
friendship of fifteen years to-day! Please do consider me a stranger to
you both after today!" And then he walked firmly out of the house with a
warning glance to Jules Victor, lingering in the long hall.

The quick Frenchman saw in Hawke's gesture the secret sign of a hidden
friend, and