been reared in harmony with
his requirements. As she took a step toward the door Hamilton stepped
between, barring her way. His outburst of infuriated words had left him
breathing fast, and he drew a handkerchief from his pocket and passed it
across his brow.

"Mary!" he exclaimed. "Are you mad?"

"I am so sane," she assured him, "that to your demented eyes I must seem
a very maniac. You turned me from a woman into a doll and this man
turned me from a doll into a woman again. I am his woman. He is my man,
and my place is with him."

"That man," her brother pointed an outstretched finger to her fiance,
"is going to have no place for you to share. My hand holds the power to
make and crush and I have stamped him for obliteration. He is doomed.
You are my sister, and you must hold loyalty above infatuation. You must
not give countenance to my enemies in time of war, Mary. That spells
treason."

It was as though the three persons standing there had all passed, at a
single step, through the explosive phases of wrath to the colder,
steadier and deadlier zone of feeling where all their words came level,
and with an almost monotonous quiet.

"Loyalty!" Into her eyes came so splendid and serene a light that she
seemed transfigured. "I am ready to hold loyalty above life itself. If
Jefferson Edwardes goes to his execution, I shall go with him and I
shall be prouder to share his ruin than any other man's victory. I have
just promised to marry him...." Slowly she raised her hand and gazed at
the engagement ring. The ghost of a smile trembled about her lips,
though a sudden moisture dimmed her eyes. It was a mist of tenderness,
not fear. "That promise was not given lightly," she added. "It outweighs
even a Monte Cristo's arrogance."

Edwardes shook his head.

"I release you from that promise, dear," he told her. "It is to be war
now, and bitter war. Before he can hurt me he must ruin hundreds of
innocent noncombatants; must trample down scores of honorable
institutions; and because I am responsible to them I must fight their
fight to the end, asking no quarter." For just a moment his chin came up
and he spoke with pride. "Our concern is no weak one. It has foundations
in a nation's faith. Now it must meet the assaults of a Colossus running
amuck. Your brother or I must go down. If it is I, you mustn't go down
with me, dearest."

Very gravely she shook her head, and, turning her back on Hamilton,
clasped her hands about her