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my hand, are not the ends of justice served as well as if he died in the electric chair? And if I fall, the law may still take its course." Loge had listened to this speech attentively. He lifted his head and glanced about the deck, filling his lungs with a deep draft of air. Something like a gleam of hope was visible in his features. "It is irregular," said Wilton Barnstable, frowning, and not half convinced. "And, in the name of Heaven, why imperil your life needlessly? Why expose yourself again to the power of this monstrous criminal?" "The fellow has challenged me, and I have granted him a meeting," said Cleggett. "I hope there is such a thing as honor!" "Clement!" It was Lady Agatha who spoke. As she did so she laid her hand on Cleggett's arm. She had hearkened in silence to the colloquy between him and Barnstable, as had the others. She drew him out of sight and hearing behind the cabin. "Clement," she said with agitation, "do not fight this man!" "I must," he said simply. It cut him to the heart to refuse the first request that she had asked of him since his avowal of his love for her and her tacit acceptance. But, to a man of Cleggett's ideas, there was no choice. "Clement," she said in a low tone, "you have told me that you love me." "Agatha!" he murmured brokenly. "And you know----" she paused, as if she could not continue, but her eyes and manner spoke the rest. In a moment her lips spoke it too; she was not the sort of woman who is afraid to avow the promptings of her heart. "You know," she said, "that I love you." "Agatha!" he cried again. He could say no more. "Oh, Clement," she said, "if you were killed--killed uselessly!--now that I have found you, I could not bear it. Dear, I could not bear it!" Cleggett was profoundly moved. He yearned to take her in his arms to comfort her, and to promise anything she wished. And the thought came to him too that, if he should perish, the one kiss, given and received in the darkness and danger of fight and storm, would be all the brave sweetness of her that he would know this side of the grave; the thought came to him bitterly. For an instant he wavered. "Agatha!" he said with dry lips. "I have already accepted the fellow's challenge." "And what of that?" she cried. "Would you cling to a barren point of honor in despite of love?" "Even so," he said, and sighed. "Oh, Clement," she said, "I cannot bear it! I cannot b
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