ut I think I should," Roy
returned, with the utmost courtesy. "I took all proper precautions
before coming to you, as it was--although not because of any personal
fear of you. No less than three persons in this house, and as many
more outside, know of my visit to you at this hour. And, now, since
you have decided to yield to my requirements, I have here some papers
for you to sign."

He drew them forth as he spoke, spreading them out upon the table,
after which he arose and touched the electric button over the mantel.

"What is that for?" curtly demanded his companion.

"To summon witnesses to your signature to these documents."

"Your assurance is something refreshing," sneered the elder man. "How
do you know that I will sign them?"

"I feel very sure that you will, Mr. Correlli," was the quiet
rejoinder; "for, in the event of your refusal, there is an officer in
waiting to arrest you upon the two serious charges before mentioned."

The baffled man snarled in impotent rage; but before he could frame a
retort, there came a knock on the door.

Roy answered it, and bade the servant without to "show up the
gentlemen who were waiting in the office."

Five minutes later they appeared, when Emil Correlli, without a demur,
signed the papers which Roy had brought and now read aloud in their
presence.

His signature was then duly witnessed by them, after which they
withdrew, Mr. Bryant's clerk, who was one of the number, taking the
documents with him.

Roy, however, remained behind.

"Mr. Correlli," he said, as soon as the door closed, "I have one more
request to make of you, before I leave; it is that you will openly
acknowledge as your wife the woman you have wronged, and thus bestow
upon your child the name which it is his right to bear."

"I will see them both--"

"Hush!" sternly interrupted Roy, before he could complete his
passionate sentence. "I simply wish to give you the opportunity to do
what is right, of your own free will. If you refuse, I shall do my
utmost to compel you; and, mark my words, it can be done. That woman
and her child are justly entitled to your name and support, and they
shall have their rights, even though you may never look upon their
faces again. I give you just one week to think over the matter. You
can leave the country if you choose, and thus escape appearing in
court; but you doubtless know what will happen if you do--the case
will go by default, and Giulia and Ino will come of