welve. Earth was his no longer. He
roused, when the sun made everything light about him, but he did not
think about it. He rose, but was not conscious that he rose. He unlocked
the door and stepped out into the forest; but he could never remember
doing this. He only knew later that he had been in the woods and now
was in his room at the hotel; all the rest was phantasmagoria, agony and
defeat.

He had crossed the Rubicon of this world's hopes and fears, but he had
been unconscious of the passage.

XXXIX. THE AVENGER

"Dear Mr. Challoner:

"With every apology for the intrusion, may I request
a few minutes of private conversation with you this evening
at seven o'clock? Let it be in your own room.

"Yours truly,

"ORLANDO BROTHERSON."

Mr. Challoner had been called upon to face many difficult and
heartrending duties since the blow which had desolated his home fell
upon him.

But from none of them had he shrunk as he did from the interview thus
demanded. He had supposed himself rid of this man. He had dismissed him
from his life when he had dismissed Sweetwater. His face, accordingly,
wore anything but a propitiatory look, when promptly at the hour of
seven, Orlando Brotherson entered his apartments.

His pleasure or his displeasure was, however, a matter of small
consequence to his self-invited visitor. He had come there with a set
purpose, and nothing in heaven or earth could deter him from it now.
Declining the offer of a seat, with the slightest of acknowledgments in
the way of a bow, he took a careful survey of the room before saying:

"Are we alone, Mr. Challoner, or is that man Sweetwater lurking
somewhere within hearing?"

"Mr. Sweetwater is gone, as I had the honour of telling you yesterday,"
was the somewhat stiff reply. "There are no witnesses to this
conference, if that is what you wish to know."

"Thank you, but you will pardon my insistence if I request the privilege
of closing that door." He pointed to the one communicating with the
bedroom. "The information I have to give you is not such as I am willing
to have shared, at least for the present."

"You may close the door," said Mr. Challoner coldly. "But is it
necessary for you to give me the information you mention, to-night?
If it is of such a nature that you cannot accord me the privilege of
sharing it, as yet, with others, why not spare me