a
deep, ethereal passion that burned this other passion to ashes. This,
then, was the explanation of her vacillation. If his mere memory could
stay her thus, while she vibrated to the influence of the man that was
present, she must love him indeed. She looked up and saw Emmet's face
distinctly, already hardening with new suspicion, without a trace of
tenderness, marked only by the ravages of disappointment. By contrast
she remembered that other face. She felt again Leigh's kisses and
heard his murmured words of love.

"No, Tom," she said, shrinking back. "I will not go with you--I am not
your wife."

Her tone was final, but his passion, newly awakened, was terrible in
its imperious demands. He could scarcely carry her off by force, and
yet for one moment such seemed to be his intention. He took a step
toward her, his hand raised as if to strike her down, then stopped.

"We 'll see about that," he retorted, with a strange, short laugh. He
would have said more and disclosed his further intention by a final
threat, but another fit of coughing caught at his throat, and before he
could find his voice again she was well on her way toward the house,
fleeing between the trees like a frightened bird. He stood still until
the door closed behind her.

"She must be a devil," he said aloud. "She stirs up the devil in me.
She makes me bad."

Could any one have seen the malign record which his experience with her
had traced upon his face, he would have been forced to admit the
justice of this accusation. He walked slowly away, striving to reckon
with his tempestuous emotions, but he could not pass beyond the limit
of the grounds.

"I was going away quietly enough," he muttered, "when she came chasing
after me. Why did n't she let me go, or else come with me?"

He stopped short, as a sudden thought flashed upon him. Then he looked
up at the windows of Lena's room. They were dark; but the windows of
Felicity's room, immediately below, now shone with a saffron glow
behind their curtains. He regarded them only to reflect how he hated
the woman they concealed from his view, and then wondered whether Lena
were asleep. He took out his watch and held it up to the moon. As he
did so, he saw that the hands pointed at midnight, and simultaneously
the bell from the First Church began to ring the hour.

If Lena were still awake, she might possibly be lingering in the
kitchen, perhaps with some new lover. She had a righ