.

He caught it in his and held it tight.

"Maisie," he said, "you know I love you. I love you more dearly than
anything in the world."

She did not speak.

"As my wife," he went on, "you would be safe and I should be happy. I
just want you all the time."

Gently she disengaged her hand, shaking her head with a little smile.

"What would that mean, Stafford?" she said. "You know you are deceiving
me when you agree that my father----" again her voice shook--"no, no,"
she said, "it would ruin your career to have the daughter of a convict
for your wife. I realise very well what it will mean, for I know--I
know--I know!"

"What do you know?" he asked in a low voice.

"I know that all my work will be in vain. But I must go on with it. I
must, or I shall go mad. I know nothing on earth can clear my father,
but I'm not going to tell you that again. I just want to think there is
a possibility that some miracle will happen, that all the evidence
which even I have against him will be explained away."

He took her unresisting hand in his, and under the cover of the
tablecloth held it tight.

"That is why I wanted to leave the service," he said, and she looked at
him quickly.

"Because you thought that it would mean ruin?"

He smiled.

"No, not that. It would hurt you, that is all. Of course, if such a
thing happened I would be obliged to resign."

"And you'd never forgive yourself."

"I wanted to anticipate such a happening, and, darling, you've got to
face the future without any other illusions."

She winced at the word "other" but he went on, unnoticing:

"Boundary is a tiger. If he thinks there is reason to fear you, he will
never let up on you till he has you in his grip. I tell you this," he
said earnestly, "that for all the power of the police, for all their
organisation and the backing which the law gives them, they may be
helpless against this man if he has marked you down for punishment."

"I'm not afraid," she said quietly.

"But I am," said he. "I'm so afraid, that I'm sick with apprehension
sometimes."

"Poor Stafford!" she said softly, and there was a look in her eyes which
compensated him for much. "But you mustn't worry, dear. Truly, truly,
you mustn't worry. I'm quite capable of looking after myself."

"And that's the greatest of all your illusions," he said,
half-laughingly and half-irritably. "You're just the meekest little
mouse that ever came under the paw of a cat."

She shook her