"After he has thrown you downstairs and injured you--"

"How did you hear that?"

"The servant you had here came to see me to-night, Elinor. She said
that that blackguard outside there had struck you and you fell down the
stairs. If you tell me that's the truth I'll break every bone in his
body."

Sheer terror for Anthony made her breathless.

"But it isn't true," she said wildly. "You mustn't think that. I fell. I
slipped and fell."

"Then," said Anthony, speaking slowly, "you are not a prisoner here?"

"A prisoner? I'd be a prisoner anywhere, father. I can't walk."

"That door was locked."

She was fighting valiantly for him.

"I can't walk, father. I don't require a locked door to keep me in."

He was too confused and puzzled to notice the evasion.

"Do you mean to say that you won't let me have you taken home? You are
still going to stay with this man? You know what he is, don't you?"

"I know what you think he is." She tried to smile, and he looked away
from her quickly and stared around the room, seeing nothing, however.
Suddenly he turned and walked to the door; but he stopped there, his
hand on the knob, and us face twitching.

"Once more, Elinor," he said, "I ask you if you will let me take you
back with me. This is the last time. I have come, after a good many
years of bad feeling, to make my peace with you and to offer you a home.
Will you come?"

"No."

Her courage almost failed her. She lay back, her eyes closed and her
face colorless. The word itself was little more than a whisper.

Her father opened the door and went out. She heard him going down the
stairs, heard other footsteps that followed him, and listened in an
agony of fear that Doyle would drop him in the hall below. But nothing
happened. The outside door closed, and after a moment she opened her
eyes. Doyle was standing by the bed.

"So," he said, "you intend to give me the pleasure of your society for
some time, do you?"

She said nothing. She was past any physical fear for herself.

"You liar!" he said softly. "Do you think I don't understand why you
want to remain here? You are cleverer than I thought you were, but you
are not as clever as I am. You'd have done better to have let him take
you away."

"You would have killed him first."

"Perhaps I would." He lighted a cigarette. "But it is a pleasant thought
to play with, and I shall miss it when the thing is fait accompli. I see
Olga has left you without ice water.