onately
in love as he was, he could see that duty and reason were on the side of
the girl. She would have to be sacrificed to this scoundrelly father,
and to please the other rascal who coveted her beauty and her fair white
body all the more because Beatrice kept him so rigidly at a distance.

"It seems very, very hard," Mark said thoughtfully. "Terribly hard on
both of us."

"Yes, but it is always the woman who suffers most," Beatrice replied.
"There is no help for it, Mark. I must see this thing out to the end. If
you had only come before!"

"My darling, I came as quickly as I could. I am staying here to-night,
and my room is in the same corridor as that of Sir Charles. I shall see
him to-night, or early to-morrow, and tell him a few of the things that
I have discovered. Perhaps when I open his eyes to the truth as to his
future son-in-law, he will change his mind."

"He will never do so," Beatrice said mournfully. "My father can always
justify himself and his conscience where his own interests are
concerned. But how did you know----"

"That you were in trouble? It came to me quite by accident. I was in
Paris a day or two ago to see a wealthy American who wants some of my
work. And as I was alone in the evening, I went to one of the theatres.
There were two English ladies by me in the stalls and presently they
began to talk about _you_. I could not help hearing. Then I heard
everything. Do you know a tall, elderly lady with dark eyes and white
hair, a lady all in silver grey?"

Beatrice started. Surely Mark was describing the Slave of the Bond, as
the grey lady whom Beatrice had encountered earlier in the evening had
called herself.

"I know her, and I don't know her," the girl cried. "She came into the
dining-room here before dinner quite by accident. I thought she was some
adventuress at first. But her face was too good and pure for that. I
asked her who she was, and she said she was the Slave of the Bond. Is
this a coincidence, or is there something deeper beyond? I don't know
what to think."

"Something deeper beyond, I should imagine," Mark said. "Be sure that in
some way or another this grey lady is interested in your welfare. But I
am absolutely sure that she did not know me."

"And so you came on at once, Mark?" Beatrice asked.

"As soon as possible, dear. I heard about the dinner whilst I was in the
theatre. My train was very late, and I could not possibly carry out the
programme that I had arran