ght you out for nothing,
for I find that I cannot marry you after all. Things have gone wrong
with me of late, and it would be downright folly for me to think of
matrimony under existing circumstances. I am leaving this place almost
at once, so there is no chance of hearing from you again. I hope you
will get on all right. Anyhow, you are well rid of me.--Yours,

"ROBIN."

Beneath the signature, scribbled very faintly, were the words, "I'm
sorry, old girl; I'm sorry."

She read the letter once, and once only; but every word stamped itself
indelibly upon her memory, every word bit its way into her consciousness
as though it had been scored upon her quivering flesh. Robin had failed
her. That ghastly presentiment of hers had come true. She was
alone--alone, and sinking in that awful whirlpool of desolation into
which for so long she had felt herself being drawn. The great waters
swirled around her, rising higher, ever higher. And she was alone.

Hours passed. She sat in a sort of trance of horror, Robin's letter
spread out beneath her nerveless fingers. She did not ask herself what
she should do. The blow had stunned all her faculties. She could only
sit there face to face with despair, staring blind-eyed before her,
motionless, cold as marble to the very heart of her. She fancied--she
even numbly hoped--that she was going to die.

She never heard repeated knocking at her door, or remembered that it was
locked, till a man's shoulder burst it open. Then, indeed, she turned
stiffly and looked at the intruder.

"You!" she said.

She had forgotten Brett Mercer.

He came forward quickly, stooped and looked at her; then went down on
his knee and thrust his arm about her.

She sat upright in his hold, not yielding an inch, not looking at him.
Her eyes were glassy.

For a little he held her; then gently but insistently he drew her to
him, pillowed her head against him, and began to rub her icy cheek.

"I've left you alone too long," he said.

She suffered him dumbly, scarcely knowing what she did. But presently
the blood that seemed to have frozen in her veins began to circulate
again, and the stiffness passed from her limbs. She stirred in his hold
like a frightened bird.

"I'm sorry!" she faltered.

He let her draw away from him, but he kept his arm about her. She looked
at him, and found him intently watching her. Her eyes fell, and rested
upon the letter which lay crumpled under her hands.

"A dreadful thi