wife," broke in
the man roughly. "She is no coquette, and I trust her--"

"So long as Silver looks after her," finished Miss Greeby
contemptuously. "What chivalrous confidence. Well, I must be going. Any
message to your--"

"No! No! No!" broke in Pine once more. "She is not to know that I am
here, or anything about my true position and name. You promised, and you
will keep your promise. But there, I know that you will, as
self-interest will make you."

"Ah, now you talk common sense. It is a pity you don't bring it to bear
in the case of Silver, whom you trust because you have benefited him.
Good-day, you very unsophisticated person. I shall see you again--"

"In London as Hubert Pine," said the millionaire abruptly, and Miss
Greeby, with a good-humored shrug, marched away, swinging her stick and
whistling gayly. She was very well satisfied with the knowledge she had
obtained, as the chances were that it would prove useful should Lambert
still hanker after the unattainable woman. Miss Greeby had lulled Pine's
suspicions regarding the young man's love for Agnes, but she knew in her
heart that she had only done so by telling a pack of miserable lies.
Now, as she walked back to The Manor, she reflected that by using her
secret information dexterously, she might improve such falsehood into
tolerable truth.

Pine flung himself down again when she departed, and coughed in his
usual violent manner. His throat and lungs ached, and his brow was wet
with perspiration. With his elbows on his knees and his face between his
hands, he sat miserably thinking over his troubles. There was no chance
of his living more than a few years, as the best doctors in Europe and
England had given him up, and when he was placed below ground, the
chances were that Agnes would marry his rival. He had made things as
safe as was possible against such a contingency, but who knew if her
love for Lambert might not make her willing to surrender the millions.
"Unless Garvington can manage to arouse her family pride," groaned Pine
drearily. "She sacrificed herself before for that, and perhaps she will
do so again. But who knows?" And he could find no answer to this
question, since it is impossible for any man to say what a woman will do
where her deepest emotions are concerned.

A touch on Pine's shoulder made him leap to his feet with the alertness
of a wild animal on the lookout for danger. By his side stood Chaldea,
and her eyes glittered, as she