nt--until I met your sister."

"You love--Anna?" she exclaimed.

"I do," he answered. "I always shall. Now if you are ready to go with
me, I too am ready. We will go to Ostend by the early morning boat and
choose a hiding place from there. I will marry you when Sir John gets
his divorce, and I will do all I can to keep you out of harm. But you
had better know the truth to start with. I will do all this not
because I love you, but--because you are Anna's sister."

Annabel rose to her feet.

"You are magnificent," she said, "but the steel of your truth is a
little oversharpened. It cuts. Will you let your servant call me a
hansom," she continued, opening the door before he could reach her
side. "I had no idea that it was so abominably late."

He scarcely saw her face again. She pulled her veil down, and he knew
that silence was best.

"Where to?" he asked, as the hansom drove up.

"Home, of course," she answered. "Eight, Cavendish Square."

_Chapter XXVI_

ANNABEL IS WARNED

"You!"

David Courtlaw crossed the floor of the dingy little sitting-room with
outstretched hands.

"You cannot say that you did not expect me," he answered. "I got
Sydney's telegram at ten o'clock, and caught the ten-thirty from the
Gare du Nord."

"It is very nice of you," Anna said softly.

"Rubbish!" he answered. "I could not have stayed in Paris and waited
for news. Tell me exactly what has happened. Even now I do not
understand. Is this man Hill dead?"

She shook her head.

"He was alive at four o'clock this afternoon," she answered, "but the
doctors give little hope of his recovery."

"What is there to be feared?" he asked her quietly.

She hesitated.

"You are my friend," she said, "if any one is. I think that I will
tell you. The man Hill has persecuted me for months--ever since I have
been in England. He claimed me for his wife, and showed to every one a
marriage certificate. He shot at me at the 'Unusual,' and the
magistrates bound him over to keep the peace. I found him once in my
rooms, and I believe that he had a key to my front door. Last night
Mr. Brendon and I returned from the 'Unusual,' and found him lying
in my room shot through the lungs. In the grate were some charred
fragments of a marriage certificate. We fetched the doctor and the
police. From the first I could see that neither believed my story. I
am suspected of having shot the man."

"But that is ridiculous!" he exclaimed.

She laughed