e. The only words of truth
which I have ever been able to say to you are those which you heard
when last we met."

"I know. Some one has set you against me. It was he!" She tapped with
her crutch upon the floor. "Well, you know very well that I could
bring you this instant crouching like a spaniel to my feet. You will
not find me again in my hour of weakness, when you can insult me with
impunity. Have a care what you are doing, Professor Gilroy. You stand
in a terrible position. You have not yet realized the hold which I
have upon you."

I shrugged my shoulders and turned away.

"Well," said she, after a pause, "if you despise my love, I must see
what can be done with fear. You smile, but the day will come when you
will come screaming to me for pardon. Yes, you will grovel on the
ground before me, proud as you are, and you will curse the day that
ever you turned me from your best friend into your most bitter enemy.
Have a care, Professor Gilroy!" I saw a white hand shaking in the air,
and a face which was scarcely human, so convulsed was it with passion.
An instant later she was gone, and I heard the quick hobble and tap
receding down the passage.

But she has left a weight upon my heart. Vague presentiments of coming
misfortune lie heavy upon me. I try in vain to persuade myself that
these are only words of empty anger. I can remember those relentless
eyes too clearly to think so. What shall I do--ah, what shall I do? I
am no longer master of my own soul. At any moment this loathsome
parasite may creep into me, and then---- I must tell some one my
hideous secret--I must tell it or go mad. If I had some one to
sympathize and advise! Wilson is out of the question. Charles Sadler
would understand me only so far as his own experience carries him.
Pratt-Haldane! He is a well-balanced man, a man of great common-sense
and resource. I will go to him. I will tell him every thing. God
grant that he may be able to advise me!

IV

6.45 P. M. No, it is useless. There is no human help for me; I must
fight this out single-handed. Two courses lie before me. I might
become this woman's lover. Or I must endure such persecutions as she
can inflict upon me. Even if none come, I shall live in a hell of
apprehension. But she may torture me, she may drive me mad, she may
kill me: I will never, never, never give in. What can she inflict
which would be worse than the loss of Agatha, and the knowled