ou that nothing can save him."

"Excepting one thing," she said in so low a voice that it sounded as if
she were speaking to herself.

"Eh?" he said, as if he had not caught the words. "What is it you mean:
what can save him, what is this one thing?"

His heavy brows came done, and he frowned at her.

She raised her eyes, cold and glittering like steel, and met his frown
unflinchingly.

"The marriage of his son Stafford with your daughter," she said,
slowly, calmly.

CHAPTER XX.

Mr. Falconer started and stared at her, his heavy face growing a
dust-red, his eyes distended with amazement and anger.

"Are you out of your mind?" he said at last, and frowning at her in a
kind of perplexity. "'Pon my soul, Maude, I'm never quite certain
whether you are in jest or earnest! If this is intended for a joke,
permit me to tell you I consider it in vilely bad taste."

"I am not jesting," she said, very quietly, her chin in her hand, her
blue eyes fixed on his unblushingly. "I am in the most sober, the most
serious earnest, I assure you."

He rose, then sank into the chair again, and sighed impatiently.

"Do you mean to say that you--that he--Confound it If ever there was a
man to be pitied, it is the one who has the honour to be your father,
Maude."

"Why?" she asked, calmly. "Have I not been a dutiful daughter? Have I
ever given you any trouble, deceived you? Am I not perfectly frank with
you at this moment?" He rose and paced to the mantel-shelf, and leaning
against it, looked down upon her, the frown still on his heavy face,
his hands thrust deeply in his pockets.

"You've always been a puzzle to me," he said, more to himself than to
her. "Ever since you were born I've felt uncertain about you--you're
like your mother. But never mind that. What game is this you're
carrying on?"

"One in which I mean to win," she replied, slowly, meditatively. "Have
you not seen--How slow to perceive, even you, a reputedly clever man,
can be! I don't suppose there is a woman in the house who has not
detected the fact that I am in love with Stafford Orme, though I have
tried to hide it from them--and you will admit that I am not a bad
actress."

"In love with Stafford Orme!" His face darkened. "No, I did not know
it. Why---what the devil does he mean by not coming to me!" he broke
out angrily, harshly.

She smiled.

"He hasn't come to ask you for me, because--well, he doesn't want me,"
she said in a low voice.

"W