her table. Still Bower
remained silent. She stole a glance at him. She was conscious that an
abiding dread was stealing into her heart; but her stage training came
to her aid, and she managed to say evenly:

"My little ramble does not appear to interest you?"

"It does," he said. "I have been arguing the pros and cons of a
ticklish problem. There are two courses to me. I can either bribe
you, or leave you to your own devices. The latter method implies the
interference of the police. I dislike that. Helen would certainly be
opposed to it. I make the one thousand into five; but I want your
answer now."

"I accept," she said instantly.

"Ah, but you are trembling. Queer, isn't it, how thin is the partition
between affluence and a prison? There are dozens of men who stand high
in commercial circles in London who ought to be in jail. There are
quite as many convicts in Portland who reached penal servitude along
precisely the same road. That is the penalty of being found out. Let
me congratulate you. And do try another glass of this excellent wine.
You need it, and you have to pack your belongings at once, you know."

"Thank you."

Her eyes sparkled. Her well modulated voice was hardly under control.
Five thousand pounds was a great deal of money; but the tragedy of
Etta Stampa's life might have been worth more. How could she find out
the whole truth? She must accomplish that, in some way.

Therein, however, she greatly miscalculated. Bower divined her thought
almost before it was formed. "For goodness' sake, let us put things in
plain English!" he said. "I am paying you handsomely to save the woman
I am going to marry from some little suffering and heartache. Perhaps
it is unnecessary. Her fine nature might forgive a man a transgression
of his youth. At any rate, I avert the risk by this payment. The check
will be payable to you personally. In other words, you must place it
to your own account in your bank. Any breach of our contract in letter
or spirit during the next two days will be punished by its stoppage.
After that time, the remotest hint on your part of any scandalous
knowledge affecting me, or Helen, or the causes which led to my
present weakness in allowing you to blackmail me, will imply the
immediate issue of a warrant for your arrest. Need I explain the
position at greater length?"

"No," said Millicent, who wished now that she had bitten off the end
of her tongue before she vented her spleen to the Va