. "Do you understand? Are you
awake?"

"Yes," she whispered.

"You know what I have saved you from?"

She nodded.

"I want you to do something for me now. Will you?" She nodded again.
"Are you sure you understand?" said the voice anxiously.

"I quite understand," she replied.

She could have almost smiled at his consideration.

"I am taking you to your home, and to-morrow your friends will know that
you have returned. But you're not to tell them about the house where
they have kept you. You must not tell them about Silva or anybody that
was in that house. Do you understand?"

"But why?" she began, and he laughed softly.

"I am not trying to shield them," he said, answering her unspoken
thought, "but if you give information you can only tell a little, and
the police can only discover a little, and the men can only be punished
a little. And there's so much that they deserve, so many lives they have
ruined, so much sorrow they have caused, that it would be a hideous
injustice if they were only punished--a little. Will you leave them to
me?"

She struggled to an erect position and stared at him.

"I know you," she whispered fearlessly; "you are Jack o' Judgment."

"Jack o' Judgment!" he laughed a little bitterly. "Yes, I am Jack o'
Judgment."

"Who are you?" she asked.

"A living lie," he replied bitterly, "a masquerader, a mummer, a
nobody."

She did not know what impelled her to do the thing, but she put out her
hand and laid it on his. She felt the silky smoothness of the glove and
then his other hand covered hers.

"Thank you," he said simply. "Do you think you can walk? We are just
turning into Doughty Street. We've passed the policeman on his beat; he
is going the other way. Can you walk upstairs by yourself?"

"I--I'll try," she said, but when he assisted her from the car she
nearly fell, and he half carried, half supported her into her room.

He stood hesitating near the door.

"I shall be all right," she smiled. "How quickly you understand my
thoughts!"

"Wouldn't it be well if I sent somebody to you--a nurse? Have you the
key I gave you?"

"How did you get it?" she asked suddenly, and he laughed again.

"Jack o' Judgment," he mocked, "wise old Jack o' Judgment! He has
everything and nothing! Suppose I send a nurse to you, a nice nurse. I
could send the key to her by messenger. Would you like that?"

She looked doubtful.

"I think I would," she said with a weak smile. "I am not quit