he threw up his hand in a Parisian gesture of gratitude and
comprehension, and failed not to report to his mistress, who saw Hawke's
fine method with a secret delight.

Hawke drove to Grindlay's agency, where, in a private room, he promptly
cashed his check.

"I'll take it in Bank of England notes!" he quietly said as the clerk
lifted inquiring eyes. "I am going to transact some business for the
lady."

"Now, I can defy Fate!" he exulted, when he was safe out of the bank.
"She will trust me now, and old Johnstone will fear me. A case of vice
versa!" And, as he drove to the Club, he murmured, "I will never leave
this fight now! Damme! I'll just go in and get the girl! Just to spite
the old coward!"

Within the dreaming shades of the gardens hiding the Silver Bungalow,
there was no sign of clamor. The beautiful little jewel-box of a mansion
was apparently deserted, but a duel to the death was going on within the
great white parlor where Hugh Johnstone stood raging at bay. He leaped
up in a mad outburst of passion, when Alixe Delavigne cuttingly broke
the silence. The old nabob knew that the desperate woman in her reckless
mood feared nothing.--

"You have lied to me! You have tricked me! You have sent that girl
away to Europe to hide her forever from me! I kept my pact, and,
you deliberately lied!" She stood before him like an avenging fury,
quivering in a passion which appalled him. But secure in his skillfuly
executed maneuver, he reached for his hat and stick.

"I defy you! I have no answer to your abuse! Draw off your fighting cur,
Major Hawke, or I'll grind you and him in the dust!" The old man was
frantic under the insult. He moved toward the door.

"Stop! You go to your ruin!" cried the irate woman. "Will you give me
full access to your daughter?"

"Never! My Lady! Go and lord it over your whipped hounds in Poland--hide
in your estates the price of the double shame of two most accommodating
Frenchwomen!"

"By the God who made me" she hissed, "I will bar your Baronetcy forever!
I will find out that girl, and she shall learn to love me and despise
your hated name and memory! It is open war now! and,--mark you--liar and
hound, these two generals, the Viceroy, and, all India shall soon know
what I know!" Then, with a clang of her silver bell, she called Jules
Victor to her side. "Jules," she said, "If this person ever crosses the
threshold of my door again, shoot him like the dog he is!"

And then the bla