Nevertheless she was helpless. And he was treating the matter as if
her fate were sealed to that of Fairfax indissolubly. What little
timid hopes she might have entertained of gaining her freedom, some
time in the future, and saving herself, soul and body, for him--all
this he had somewhat dimmed by this reference to going from her ken.

"But I--I haven't said anything about dismissing--anyone," she
faltered. "I hadn't thought----" She left her sentence incomplete.

"I know," said Jerold. "There has been so much to think about, the
subject may have been neglected. As a matter of fact, however, I am
already out of it, supplanted by your genuine husband. We can no
longer maintain the pretense.

"The moment Mr. Fairfax and Theodore chance to meet, our bit of
theatricalism goes to pieces. We would scarcely dare to face a court,
in a will probation, with Fairfax on the scene. So, I say, I am
practically eliminated already."

The one thing that remained in her mind at the end of his speech was
not in the least the main concern. She looked at him with pain in her
eyes.

"Has it been nothing but a bit of theatricalism, after all?"

He dared not permit himself to answer from his heart. He kept up his
show of amusement, or indifference to sentiment.

"We have played theatric roles to a small but carefully selected
audience," he said. "I for a fee, and you--for needful ends. We might
as well be frank, as we were the day it all began."

It was the way of a woman to be hurt. She felt there was something of
a sting in what he said. She knew she had halted his impassioned
declaration of love--but only because of the right. She had heard it,
despite her protest--and had treasured it since, and echoed it over in
her heart repeatedly.

She wished him to say it all again--all of it and more--but--not just
yet. She wanted him to let her know that he loved her more than
anything else in the world, but not by spoken words of passion.

"I am sorry if I've seemed so--so heartless in it all," she said. "I
hadn't the slightest intention of--of permitting you to----"

"I know," he interrupted, certain he knew what she meant. "I haven't
accused anyone. It was all my own fault. We'll drop it, if you wish."

"You haven't let me finish," she insisted. "I started to say that I
had no intention of making you feel like--like nothing more than an
agent--toward me--I mean, I had no intention of appearing to you like a