She was a young woman of gloomy ideas, although she was my sister."

He came a little closer towards her.

"Elizabeth," he said, "we will not talk any more about Beatrice. We will
not talk any more about anything except our two selves."

"Are you really glad to see me again, Jerry?" she asked softly.

"You must know it, dear," he whispered. "You must know that I loved you
always, that I adored you. Oh, you knew it! Don't tell me you didn't.
You knew it, Elizabeth!"

She looked down at the tablecloth.

"Yes, I knew it," she admitted, softly.

"Can't you guess what it is to me to see you again like this?" he
continued.

She sighed.

"It is something for me, too, to feel that I have a friend close at
hand."

"Come," he said, "they are turning out the lights here. You want to know
about Wenham's property. Let me come upstairs with you for a little time
and I will tell you as much as I can from memory."

He paid the bill, helped her on with her cloak. His fingers seemed like
burning spots upon her flesh. They went up in the lift. In the corridors
he drew her to him and she began to tremble.

"What is there strange about you, Jerry?" she faltered, looking into his
face. "You terrify me!"

"You are glad to see me? Say you are glad to see me?"

"Yes, I am glad," she whispered.

Outside the door of her rooms, she hesitated.

"Perhaps," she suggested, faintly,--"wouldn't it be better if you came
to-morrow morning?"

Once more his fingers touched her and again that extraordinary sense of
fear seemed to turn her blood cold.

"No," he replied, "I have been put off long enough! You must let me in,
you must talk with me for half an hour. I will go then, I promise. Half
an hour! Elizabeth, haven't I waited an eternity for it?"

He took the keys from her fingers and opened the door, closing it again
behind them. She led the way into the sitting-room. The whole place was
in darkness but she turned on the electric light. The cloak slipped from
her shoulders. He took her hands and looked at her.

"Jerry," she whispered, "you mustn't look at me like that. You terrify
me! Let me go!"

She wrenched herself free with an effort. She stepped back to the corner
of the room, as far as she could get from him. Her heart was beating
fiercely. Somehow or other, neither of these two young men, over whose
lives she had certainly brought to bear a very wonderful influence, had
ever before stirred her pulses like this. What wa