rue. Well, this will make some atonement.
She will know that I kept my word to her. She gave me that ring,
Evelyn."

He held out his hand for a moment

"It was a pledge that I should never draw back from my allegiance to the
Society. Well, neither she nor I then fancied this thing could happen;
but now I am not going to turn coward. You saw me show the white
feather, Evelyn, for a minute or two: I don't think it was about myself;
it was about her--and--and one or two others. You see our talking
together has sent off all that nervous excitement; now we can speak
about business--"

"I will not--I will not!" Evelyn said, still greatly moved. "I will go
to Lind himself. I will tell him that no duty of this kind was ever
contemplated by any one joining here. It may be all very well for Naples
or Sicily; it won't do for the people on this side the Channel: it will
ruin his work: he must appeal--I will drive him to it!"

"My dear fellow," Brand said, quietly, "I told you Lind has accepted the
execution of this affair with reluctance. He knows it will do our
work--well, my share in it will be soon over--no good. But in this
business there in no appeal. You are only a companion; you don't know
what stringent vows you have to undertake when you get into the other
grades. Moreover, I must tell you this thing to his credit. He is not
bound to take the risk of the ballot himself, but he did to-night. It is
all over and settled, Evelyn. What is one man's life, more or less?
People go to throw away hundreds of thousands of lives 'with a light
heart.' And even if this affair should give a slight shock to some of
our friends here, the effect will not be permanent. The organization is
too big, too strong, too eager, to be really injured by such a trifle. I
want to talk about business matters now."

"I won't hear you--I will not allow this," Lord Evelyn protested,
trembling with excitement.

"You must hear me; the time is short," Brand said, with decision. "When
this thing has to be done I don't know; I shall probably hear to-morrow;
but I must at once take steps to prevent shame falling on the few
relatives I have. I shall pretend to set out on some hunting-expedition
or other--Africa is a good big place for one to lose one's self in--and
if I do not return, what then? I shall leave you my executor, Evelyn;
or, rather, it will be safer to do the whole thing by deed of gift. I
shall give my eldest sister's son the Buckinghamshire p