ust assure
himself of that fact.

"Love him--my Peter? Yes!"

She leaned forward eagerly, gripping her hands in front of him on the
table. She spoke swiftly, as if she must convince him before he asked
her another question. Blake's eyes did not change. They had not changed
for an instant. They were hard, and cold, and searching, unwarmed by
her beauty, by the luster of her shining hair, by the touch of her
breath as it came to him over the table.

"I have gone everywhere with him--everywhere," she began. "Peter writes
books, you know, and we have gone into all sorts of places. We love
it--both of us--this adventuring. We have been all through the country
down there," she swept a hand to the south, "on dog sledges, in canoes,
with snowshoes, and pack-trains. Then we hit on the idea of coming
north on a whaler. You know, of course, Captain Rydal planned to return
this autumn. The crew was rough, but we expected that. We expected to
put up with a lot. But even before the ice shut us in, before this
terrible night came, Rydal insulted me. I didn't dare tell Peter. I
thought I could handle Rydal, that I could keep him in his place, and I
knew that if I told Peter, he would kill the beast. And then the
ice--and this night--" She choked.

Blake's eyes, gimleting to her soul, were shot with a sudden fire as
he, too, leaned a little over the table. But his voice was unemotional
as rock. It merely stated a fact. "That's why Captain Rydal allowed
himself to be frozen in," he said. "He had plenty of time to get into
the open channels, Mrs. Keith. But he wanted you. And to get you he
knew he would have to lay over. And if he laid over, he knew that he
would get you, for many things may happen in an arctic night. It shows
the depth of the man's feelings, doesn't it? He is sacrificing a great
deal to possess you, losing a great deal of time, and money, and all
that. And when your husband dies--"

Her clenched little fist struck the table. "He won't die, I tell you!
Why do you say that?"

"Because--Rydal says he is going to die."

"Rydal--lies. Peter had a fall, and it hurt his spine so that his legs
are paralyzed. But I know what it is. If he could get away from that
ship and could have a doctor, he would be well again in two or three
months."

"But Rydal says he is going to die."

There was no mistaking the significance of Blake's words this time. Her
eyes filled with sudden horror. Then they flashed with the blue fire
a