ht of the street
lamp, though not as plainly as I'd seen the man, and they appeared to be
arguing very excitedly about something. Whatever it was, it must have
been in some way concerned with you, or your affairs, because they were
tremendously interested in the house. They both looked out, and one
pointed several times. Even if I'd intended to go in, I wouldn't have
gone while they were there. But the very fact that they _were_ there
roused me out of the kind of lethargy of misery I'd fallen into. I
wondered who they were, and if they meant you harm or good. When they
had driven away I made up my mind that I would see you if I could. I
tried the gate, and found it unlocked. I walked in, and--there were
lights in these windows. I knew you couldn't have gone to bed yet,
though you'd said you were so tired. There was death in my heart then,
for you and for me, Maxine, for--the gate hadn't opened again, and--"

"I know what you thought!" I broke in, my heart beating so now that my
voice shook a little, though I struggled to seem calm. "You said to
yourself, 'It was Maxine who let the man in. He is with her now. I shall
find them together.'"

"Yes," Raoul admitted. "But I didn't try the handle of the door, as I
had of the gate. I rang. I couldn't bring myself to take you unawares."

"Do you think still that I let a man in, and hid him when I heard you
ring?" I asked. (For an instant I was inclined to tell the story Ivor
had advised me to tell; but I saw how excited Raoul was; I saw how, in
painting the picture for me, he lived through the scene again, and, in
spite of himself, suffered almost as keenly as he had suffered in the
experience. I saw how his suspicions of me came crawling into his heart,
though he strove to lash them back. I dared not bring Ivor out from the
other room, if he were still there. He was too handsome, too young, too
attractive in every way. If Raoul had been jealous of Count Godensky,
whom he knew I had refused, what would he feel towards Ivor Dundas, a
stranger whose name I had never mentioned, though he was received at my
house after midnight? I was thankful I hadn't taken Ivor's advice and
introduced the two men at first, for in his then mood Raoul would have
listened to no explanations. He and I would never have arrived at the
understanding we had reached now. And not having been frank at first, I
must be secret to the end.)

The very asking of such a bold question--"Do you think I let a man