e been a shriek had not the hand very
swiftly shifted its position from her eyes to her mouth. She looked up
into a face she knew--a face whose eyes of evil triumph made her heart
stand still, and all her strength went suddenly from her. She turned as
white as death and sank back into the chair from which she had
half-risen. The total unexpectedness of the thing deprived her of all
powers of resistance. She sat as one stunned.

He took his hand from her lips and brutally kissed them, laughing as she
shrank away from him in sick horror. The gleaming mockery of his eyes
was a thing she dared not meet.

"You will never guess what I have come for," he said, hanging over her,
his hand gripping both of hers, his face still horribly near.

Her lips moved voicelessly in answer. She could not utter a word.

"You're awfully pleased to see me, aren't you?" he said. "That's nice of
you. I wonder when you mean to pay that debt of yours--that old, sweet
debt."

He spoke softly, smilingly, his eyes devouring her the while. She closed
her own to avoid them. Her heart did not seem to be beating at all. She
felt as if she were going to die of sheer horror there in his arms.

Softly again his voice came to her. "Come, you mustn't faint. That
wouldn't be at all good for you. Open your eyes! Don't be afraid! Open
them!"

They opened quiveringly, almost against her will. He was holding her
closely, as if he anticipated some sudden resistance. But his eyes were
on her still, burningly, possessively, menacingly. She met them
shrinking, and felt as if thereby she gave herself to him body and soul.

He began to laugh again--that soft, silky laugh. "You're such a silly
child," he said; "you always expect the worst. It's not wise of you.
Aren't you old enough to know that yet?"

She found her voice at last, and with it came the consciousness of the
slow, slow beating of her heart. "Let me go!" she said, in a breathless
whisper.

"Presently; on one condition," he said.

"No, now!" The beating had begun to quicken a little, to harden into a
distinct throbbing. But she felt deadly cold. Her hands, powerless in
that unrelenting grasp, were as ice.

"Now don't be foolish!" said Hunt-Goring. "You're absolutely at my
mercy, and it's very poor policy on your part not to recognize that
fact. Just listen! You want me to let you go, you say. Well, I will let
you go--for one small consideration on your part. You've never paid that
debt of yours