s against me now."

Gualtier smiled.

"You speak lightly," said he, "of the past and the future. You are
excited. If you think calmly about your position, you will see that
you are now more in my power than ever; and you will see, also, that
I am willing to use that power. Do not drive me to extremes."

"These are your old threats," said Hilda, with bitter contempt. "They
are stale now."

"Stale!" repeated Gualtier. "There are things which can never be
stale, and in such things you and I have been partners. Must I remind
you of them?"

"It's not at all necessary. You had much better leave, and go back to
England, or any where else."

These words stung Gualtier.

"I will recall them," he cried, in a low, fierce voice. "You have a
convenient memory, and may succeed for a time in banishing your
thoughts, but you have that on your soul which no efforts of yours
can banish--things which must haunt you, cold-blooded as you are,
even as they have haunted me--my God!--and haunt me yet."

"The state of your mind is of no concern to me. You had better obey
my order, and go, so as not to add any more to your present apparent
troubles."

"Your taunts are foolish," said Gualtier, savagely. "You are in my
power. What if I use it?"

"Use it, then."

Gualtier made a gesture of despair.

"Do you know what it means?" he exclaimed.

"I suppose so."

"You do not--you can not. It means the downfall of all your hopes,
your desires, your plans."

"I tell you I no longer care for things like those."

"You do not mean it--you can not. What! can you come down from being
Lady Chetwynde to plain Hilda Krieff?"

"I have implied that, I believe," said Hilda, in the same tone. "Now
you understand me. Go and pull me down as fast as you like."

"But," said Gualtier, more excitedly, "you do not know what you are
saying. There is something more in store for you than mere
humiliation--something worse than a change in station--something more
terrible than ruin itself. You are a criminal. You know it. It is for
this that you must give your account. And, remember, such crimes as
yours are not common ones. Such victims as the Earl of Chetwynde and
Zillah are not those whom one can sacrifice with impunity. It is such
as these that will be traced back to you, and woe be to you when
their blood is required at your hands! Can you face this prospect? Is
this future so very indifferent to you? If you have nothing like
remorse, are you also