bt now
that he had merely thrust upon her a somewhat distressing truth. It was
to save Wyllard's credit, and for that alone, that she had undertaken
this most unpleasant task. She did not answer, and Hawtrey stood up.

"Wyllard has his faults, but there's this in his favor--he keeps a
promise," he said. "One has a certain respect for a person who never
goes back upon his word. Well, because I really think he would like it,
I'll keep those men."

He paused for a moment, as if to let her grasp the drift of his words,
and then turned to her with something that startled her in his voice and
manner. "The question is--are you willing to emulate his example?"

Agatha shrank from the glow in his eyes. "Oh!" she broke out, "you
cannot urge me now--after what you said."

Hawtrey laughed harshly. "Well," he said, "I'll come for my answer very
shortly. It seems that you and Wyllard attach a great deal of importance
to a moral obligation--and I must remind you that the time agreed upon
is almost up."

Agatha sat very still for perhaps half a minute, while a sense of dismay
took possession of her. There was no doubt that Gregory's retort was
fully warranted. She had insisted upon his carrying out an obligation
which would cost him something, not because she took pleasure in seeing
him do what was honorable, but to preserve the credit of another man.
And now it was with intense repugnance that she recognized that there
was apparently no escaping from the obligation she had incurred.
Gregory's attitude was perfectly natural and logical. She had promised
to marry him, and he had saddled himself with a load of debt on her
account, but the slight pity and tenderness that she had felt for him a
few minutes earlier had utterly disappeared. Indeed, she felt that she
almost hated him. His face had grown hard and almost brutal, and there
was a look she shrank from in his eyes.

She rose with trembling limbs.

"Do you wish to speak to Mrs. Hastings?" she asked.

Hawtrey's lip curled. "No," he said, "if she'll excuse me, I don't think
I do. If you tell her you have been successful, she'll probably be quite
content."

Agatha went out without another word. Hawtrey lighted his pipe and
stretched himself out in his chair, when he heard the wagon drive away a
few minutes later. He did not like Mrs. Hastings, and had a suspicion
that she had no great regard for him, but he was conscious of a grim
satisfaction. There was, though it seldom ca