w his mind was being tortured.
Laura in danger from this madman? No, over his body first, over his
dead body. How often had he smiled at that phrase; but there was no
melodrama in it now. Her liberty and perhaps her honor! His strong
fingers worked convulsively; to put them round the blackguard's throat!
And to do nothing himself, to wait upon this Frenchman's own good time,
was maddening.

"Your head is all right now?" as she turned to follow the others from
the room.

"It was nothing." He forced a smile to his lips. "I'm as fit as a
fiddle now; only, I'll never forgive myself for letting him go. Will
you tell me one thing? Did he ever offend you in any way?"

"A woman would not call it an offense," a glint of humor in her eyes.
"Real offense, no."

"He proposed to you?"

The suppressed rage in his tone would have amused if it hadn't thrilled
her strangely. "It would have been a proposal if I had not stopped it.
Good night."

He could not see her eyes very well; there was only one candle burning.
Impulsively he snatched at her hand and kissed it. With his life, if
need be; ay, and gladly. And even as she disappeared into the corridor
the thought intruded: Where was the past, the days of wandering, the
active and passive adventures, he had contemplated treasuring up for a
club career in his old age? Why, they had vanished from his mind as
thin ice vanishes in the spring sunshine. To love is to be borne again.

And Laura? She possessed a secret that terrified her one moment and
enraptured her the next. And she marveled that there was no shame in
her heart. Never in all her life before had she done such a thing;
she, who had gone so calmly through her young years, wondering what it
was that had made men turn away from her with agony written on their
faces! She would never be the same again, and the hand she held softly
against her cheek would never be the same hand. Where was the
tranquillity of that morning?

Fitzgerald found himself alone with Ferraud again. There was going to
be no dissembling; he was going to speak frankly.

"You have evidently discovered it. Yes, I love Miss Killigrew, well
enough to die for her."

"_Zut_! She will be as safe as in her own house. Had Breitmann not
gone to-night, had any of us stopped him, I could not say. Unless you
tell her, she will never know that she stood in danger. Don't you
understand? If I marred one move these men intend to make, if I sh