aled in her unexpected strength,
tenacity, and even subtlety.

"Very well," he replied. "It is your right to refuse. But this you must
understand. I shall not permit my brother to marry you in ignorance
of--we will say the stories told of your past, since you deny their
truth. If you refuse to tell him, I myself will do it. I will tell him
exactly what has happened to-day. And I shall see that the detective
whom Idina employed against my wife does not go away before Vanno
returns, at any rate without leaving her address. Also I must say this:
I cannot compel my brother to give you up if he chooses you as his wife
in spite of all, and if you love him little enough to do him so great a
wrong. But I can control my wife's actions. Frankly, I do not consider
you the right companion for her."

Mary's cheeks blazed, not with shame but with indignation. She quivered
from head to foot with anger such as she had not known that she could
feel. Never had she experienced so strong a temptation as now, when she
burned to fling the truth in this man's haughty face. How it would
change if she accused the wife he put so far above her! And how easily
she could prove that the burden of guilt was Marie's. It was as if in a
vivid lightning-flash she saw Angelo withered by the knowledge, his
pride in the dust; and a tigress instinct of revenge leaped into life,
longing to see him thus in reality, burning to use her power to crush
and annihilate his happiness forever. But she fought with herself and
resisted. For an instant she was silent, gathering the reins of
self-control. Then she said only: "I will go away from your house at
once, Prince Della Robbia."

"That must be as you wish," he replied. "I do not ask you to go."

"You believe unspeakable things of me. That is the same as telling me to
go. In my country they suppose people innocent until they're proved
guilty. With you, it seems to be different. Without waiting for proof,
you take it for granted that I'm guilty, that I've deceived Vanno and
you."

"Your silence when you might have defended yourself from Miss Bland and
from the American woman was proof in itself. If you are not the person
concerned in their story, surely you would have denied your identity
with her. You said nothing. You bowed your head under the storm. Only
now, when you're alone with me, knowing me to be ignorant of any facts
against you, do you raise it again. But enough of recrimination. Vanno
can decide fo