cknowledged Bat,
frowning. "Some discovery."

"He was a man who lived by his wits; it was common report that he'd been
expelled from a club, somewhere, for cheating at cards. His first wife
had died a long time before through his studied neglect and bad
treatment. He had heard of my good salary and increasing prospects, and
so had made up his mind to attach himself, after the manner of all
parasites, to one who promised to be a source of income."

"Was it then that you left him?" asked the man.

"It was." She bent her head, the white hands covered her face; her
bosom, deep and wonderful as that of a young Juno, rose and fell with
the sobs that shook her. "I thought I should die at first. To think that
I, who had prized myself so, should come to that; made the victim of
such a cheap, tawdry trick! Once or twice I actually thought of killing
myself; but I suppose I am too normal for that. At any rate, within
another week, I had thrown aside every tie I had, and they were not
many," with a little added break in the voice, over which she was
struggling for control, "and so I came east."

"But that wasn't the last you saw of Burton, though," said Bat, with a
grimace of dislike.

"While I was fighting to make a fresh way for myself, he did not disturb
me," said the girl. "But no sooner had I scored than he reappeared; by
every device known to his kind he began to bleed me."

"You did not allow that!" cried the man, surprised.

"I did," with a gesture of meek acknowledgment. "He mastered me with his
cunning. Not a thing escaped him--every weakness, every shrinking,
every faltering I had, seemed known to him; he kept me in an agony of
suspense; rather than be hampered and embarrassed by him at every turn I
tried to get rid of him by giving him money."

"It would take near all the money in the world to drive away a coyote
like that," said Bat.

"I soon found that out," said Nora Cavanaugh. "For from that time on I
was haunted by him; he kept demanding of me, and I never had the moral
courage to refuse him until last night."

"Last night!" Bat found himself staring at her. "Did you see him last
night?"

She looked at him suddenly, and there was a startled sort of look in the
wide brown eyes, a fleeting expression of fear; and at the same time her
hand went to her breast in a convulsive movement.

"Yes," she said, and her voice had sunk to a whisper. "He came last
night after I returned from the theatre. My maid had