Sam was trying to fit in
Edith's visit with the rest.

The Benedict was neither more moral nor less than its kind. An
unwritten law kept respectable women away, but the management showed no
inclination to interfere where there was no noise or disorder. Employees
were supposed to see that no feminine visitors remained after midnight,
that was all.

"You might go up and wait for him," Sam suggested. "That is, if it's
important."

"It's very important."

He threw open the gate of the elevator hospitably.

At half past ten that night Louis Akers went back to his rooms. The
telephone girl watched him sharply as he entered.

"There's a lady waiting for you, Mr. Akers."

He swung toward her eagerly.

"A lady? Did she give any name?"

"No. Sam let her in and took her up. He said he thought you wouldn't
mind. She'd been here before."

The thought of Edith never entered Akers' head. It was Lily, Lily
miraculously come back to him. Lily, his wife.

Going up in the elevator he hastily formulated a plan of action. He
would not be too ready to forgive; she had cost him too much. But in the
end he would take her in his arms and hold her close. Lily! Lily!

It was the bitterness of his disappointment that made him brutal. Wicked
and unscrupulous as he was with men, with women he was as gentle as he
was cruel. He put them from him relentlessly and kissed them good-by. It
was his boast that any one of them would come back to him if he wanted
her.

Edith, listening for his step, was startled at the change in his face
when he saw her.

"You!" he said thickly. "What are you doing here?"

"I've been waiting all evening. I want to ask you something."

He flung his hat into a chair and faced her.

"Well?"

"Is it true that you are married to Lily Cardew?"

"If I am, what are you going to do about it?" His eyes were wary, but
his color was coming back. He was breathing more easily.

"I only heard it to-day. I must know, Lou. It's awfully important."

"What did you hear?" He was watching her closely.

"I heard you were married, but that she had left you."

It seemed to him incredible that she had come there to taunt him, she
who was responsible for the shipwreck of his marriage. That she could
come there and face him, and not expect him to kill her where she stood.

He pulled himself together.

"It's true enough." He swore under his breath. "She didn't leave me. She
was taken away. And I'll get her back if I--You