piano, the merry tumult of chattering voices,
seemed to affect him oddly, almost to exasperate him.

Sir Eustace turned and swung the door shut; then with less than his
customary arrogance he came to Scott. "What's the matter?" he said. "Out
with it! Don't break the news if you can help it!"

His eyes belied the banter of his words. They shone as the eyes of a
fighter meeting odds. There was something leonine about him at the
moment, something of the primitive animal roused from its lair and
scenting danger.

He looked into Scott's pale face with the dawning of a threatening
expression upon his own.

And Scott met the threat full and square and unflinching. "I've come to
tell you," he said, "about the hardest thing one man can tell another.
Dinah wishes to be released from her engagement."

His words were brief but very distinct. He stiffened as he uttered them,
almost as if he expected a blow.

But Sir Eustace stood silent and still, with only the growing menace in
his eyes to show that he had heard.

Several seconds dragged away ere he made either sound or movement. Then,
with a sudden, fierce gesture, he gripped Scott by the shoulder. "And you
have the damnable impertinence to come and tell me!" he said.

There was violence barely restrained in voice and action. He held Scott
as if he would fling him against the wall.

But Scott remained absolutely passive, enduring the savage grip with no
sign of resentment. Only into his steady eyes there came that gleam as of
steel that leaps to steel.

"I have told you," he said, "because I have no choice. She wishes to be
set free, and--she fears you too much to tell you so herself."

Sir Eustace broke in upon him with a furious laugh that was in some
fashion more insulting than a blow on the mouth. "And she has deputed you
to do so on her behalf! Highly suitable! Or did you volunteer for the
job, most fearless knight?"

"I offered to help her--certainly." Scott's voice was as free from
agitation as his pose. "I would help any woman under such circumstances.
It's no easy thing for her to break off her engagement at this stage. And
she is such a child. She needs help."

"She shall have it," said Eustace grimly. "But--since you are here--I
will deal with you first. Do you think I am going to endure any
interference in this matter from you? Think it over calmly. Do you?"

His hold upon Scott had become an open threat. His eyes were a red blaze
of anger. In that mo