ed to cast himself upon him. All
that was now left for him was the silent dignity of endurance.

Sanghurst made one step forward and seized the arm of the lad in a grip
like that of a vice. So cruel was the grip that it was hard to restrain
a start of pain.

"Renounce Joan!" he hissed in the boy's ear; "renounce her utterly and
for ever! Write at my bidding such words as I shall demand of thee, and
thou shalt save thyself the worst of the agonies I will else inflict
upon thee. Basildene thou shalt never get -- I can defy thee there, do
as thou wilt; besides, if thou departest alive from this prison house,
thou wilt have had enough of striving to thwart the will of Peter
Sanghurst -- but Joan thou shalt renounce of thine own free will, and
shalt so renounce her that her love for thee will be crushed and killed!
Here is the inkhorn, and here the parchment. The ground will serve thee
for a table, and I will tell thee what to write. Take then the pen, and
linger not. Thou wouldst rejoice to write whatever words I bid thee
didst thou know what is even now preparing in yon chamber below thy
prison house. Take the pen and sit down. It is but a short half-hour's
task."

The strong man thrust the quill into the slight fingers of the boy; but
Raymond suddenly wrenched his hand away, and flung the frail weapon to
the other end of the cell. He saw the vile purpose in a moment. Peter
knew something of the nature of the woman he passionately desired to win
for his wife, and he well knew that no lies of his invention respecting
the falsity of her young lover would weigh one instant with her. Even
the death of his rival would help him in no whit, for Joan would cherish
the memory of the dead, and pay no heed to the wooing of the living.
There was but one thing that would give him the faintest hope, and that
was the destruction of her faith in Raymond. Let him be proved faithless
and unworthy, and her love and loyalty must of necessity receive a rude
shock. Sanghurst knew the world, and knew that broken faith was the one
thing a lofty-souled and pure-minded woman finds it hardest to forgive.
Raymond, false to his vows, would no longer be a rival in his way. He
might have a hard struggle to win the lady even then, but the one
insuperable obstacle would be removed from his path.

And Raymond saw the purpose in a moment. His quick and sharpened
intelligence showed all to him in a flash. Not to save himself from any
fate would he so dis