liriously happy, until I remembered, with a sharp pain
like an icicle in my heart, that he loved Mrs. West.

"It _is_ true," he said. "We went through the marriage ceremony here,
three weeks ago, she and I, as this man will tell you. I am a Scot, and
I claim her as my wife by the law of Scotland, unless she will swear to
me now, before God, that she loves you and wants you for her husband. If
she can swear that, I will take steps to release her. What do you say,
Barrie?"

"I--I _like_ Basil very much," I stammered. "I was willing--I am
willing--to marry him."

"I didn't ask if you liked, but if you loved, him. Do you?"

"I--I want to marry him," I exclaimed, strength flowing into me as I
thought of Mrs. West. "Don't be afraid, Mr. Somerled. I've troubled you
enough. Even if we really are married, I would rather die than hold you.
I know everything--how it was about me you quarrelled with _her_. But
I've spoiled only a few weeks of your life. I won't spoil the rest. It
is she who ought to be your wife, not I."

"Who has said that to you?" he asked.

"It is her own idea!" Mrs. West cried.

"Then it is a very foolish idea," said he. "Mrs. West and I never had
it. If you love Basil Norman, Barrie, I won't stand in your way. But if
you don't love him, by heaven he shan't take you from me."

"There's no question of taking her from you. She doesn't belong to you,"
Basil flung back at him. "For a marriage to be legal one of the persons
concerned must have lived in Scotland for twenty-one days----"

"I lived in Scotland seventeen years."

"But not directly before that foolish business here----"

"I have never been without a holding in Scotland. Dunelin Castle has
been mine by lease for years. Now it's mine by right of ownership.
Whether our marriage was legal or not will have to be settled by
Scottish Law before the girl can marry any one else, and I shall fight
in the courts for my rights if you dispute them."

"Are you going to throw me over, Barrie?" Basil asked.

"You shall not put it to her like that!" said my knight. "Barrie, you
haven't answered my question. Do you love him?"

"No," I faltered. I could not lie.

"Do you love me?"

"You're cruel to ask me that, when you----"

"When you ought to have seen long ago, that I was at your feet, that I
was mad for you, that you were my one thought. I tried not to be a brute
as well as a fool, so I stood aside and gave all the other men who were
younger, and p