s something else I want to speak about," and her voice
trembled somewhat. "This news concerning your future will make it a
little easier. You know, of course, that Meryl Pym has become engaged
to Mr. van Hert, the well-known Dutch politician?"

Instantly he stiffened. "I saw it in a newspaper."

She came close up to him suddenly. "O, Major Carew"--and there was an
infinite pleading in her voice--"Billy and I thought you cared for
her, and we believed she cared for you. Don't let her wreck her whole
life now.... Don't stand by and let her marry a man she does not love.
Go to her before it is too late!"

Under his iron control his face seemed to work strangely. She saw the
swift compression of his lips, the swift pain in his eyes, the strong
hunger he could not entirely hide.

"It is impossible," and the usual steadiness of his voice was shaken.
"You say you know my story!... How can I go to her and tell her that
once I killed the woman I loved?... How can I speak to her of love--I,
the policeman, she the heiress?... How can I tell her that story which
was told to you?... The story of damnable hate and passion, when I
tried to strangle my own brother. I tell you she would shrink away in
horror. She must shrink. Why did you speak to me about it at all! Your
thoughts are folly and madness. _I_ offer love to Meryl Pym?... My
God! I have some decency--some pride left." And the pain and
bitterness in his voice shocked and stabbed her.

But in spite of her inward shrinking she answered him boldly, drawing
on a courage lent her by love and sincerity.

"And I say that if you love her truly, you ought to be able to trust
her with your story. It is not noble and spirited of you to stand
aside as you perhaps think. It is cowardly. Pride is generally
cowardly. For the sake of your pride, of your own personal feelings,
you will let her go on with this marriage and never say a word and
never move a finger to save her from shipwrecking her whole life.
First you will let your own sad past come between you; then you will
let her hateful gold drive you away; then you will talk of yourself
as just a policeman. And in any case--you must know it as well as I
know it--none of these things would estrange Meryl Pym from the man
she loved. There is nothing whatever between you except your pride,
and you think that demands a renunciation from you, careless or no
whether it brings heart-break for her."

He had grown deathly white now, with