was--didn't have much information to give, or the man
wouldn't have backed down and apologized. I should like to find out
exactly what he had to go upon. But if you've changed your mind, it's not
worth while to bother about that----"

"I have not changed my mind," Annesley said.

"You are very good, a very noble woman. If I were the only one to suffer
by being denounced, I don't think I'd care much, as things have turned
out. But there are others. And above all, there's you. You could patch up
your life, but you'd have to suffer more or less if I were dragged over
the coals. And so, taking everything together, I'm thankful to accept
your generosity.

"We'll call that settled. I don't think Ruthven Smith has any suspicion.
We'll see about that later. Meanwhile, he doesn't count. And Madalena at
her worst I can manage. There's nothing to be feared. But the question
is, how are we two to go on?"

"You must--whatever else we decide--you must give up----" the girl
stammered from her pillows, and could not bring herself to finish.

"That goes without saying, doesn't it? In any case, there was only to be
one more _coup_. I'd warned everybody concerned of my decision as to
that."

"_One more?_ How terrible! Not--_here_?"

"Yes, if you must have that, too; it was to be here. It was to be a big
thing. But there's time to stop it."

Annesley buried her head with a stifled moan.

"It wouldn't have hurt any of the people. Only family heirlooms
again--everything insured. And as for the insurance companies, if
you worry over them, it's part of the game. They're wallowing in
money ... But I'll call the thing off. And that's the end for me. I'm
not rich--not the millionaire I pose for; still, I've earned something.
My 'Napoleon' has paid me well, and I've had a share now and then of
some good things. There's enough to make you comfortable----"

"Do you think I'd take a penny of such money?" the girl cried, sick with
indignation.

"I've worked for it," Knight said, with a kind of unhappy defiance, "and
it was come by as honestly as a lot of fortunes made on the stock market.
You must have money----"

"I can earn some, as I did before."

"No, _never_ as you did before! Besides, I thought you'd decided on
having no open break between us, no scandal. Or wasn't that what you
meant?"

"It was. But--I don't see yet how it can be managed. Do you?"

"The way I had in my mind was, since I've lost your love--oh, I'm not
compla