d proper time!

She could not speak at once. Her response was not ready. She was
collecting herself. Given the time, she would rise above the mischief that
confounded her. To have uttered the words that hung unuttered on her lips
would have glorified him and brought shame to her pride forever more. Five
words trembled there awaiting deliverance and they were good and honest
words--"Take me back, Braden darling!" They were never spoken. They were
formed to answer a different call from him. She checked them in time.

"I did not come here to see you," she said at last, standing very straight
beside the table. He was just inside the door leading to the hall. "Whose
trick is this,--yours or Mr. Thorpe's?"

Enlightenment flashed into his eyes. "By Jove!" he exclaimed. "He said he
would do it, and he has made good. This is his way of--" He broke off in
the middle of the sentence. In an instant he had whirled about and the
door was closed with a bang.

She started forward, her hand pressed to her quick-beating heart, real
fear in her eyes. What was in his mind? Was this insanity? She had read of
men driven mad by disappointment who brutally set upon and killed--But he
was facing her now, and she stopped short. His jaw was set but there was
no insane light in the eyes that regarded her so steadily. Somehow--and
suddenly--her composure was restored. She was not afraid of him. She was
not afraid of the hands and arms that had caressed her so tenderly, nor
was she afraid of the words that were to fall from the lips that had
kissed hers so many times. He was merely going to plead with her, and she
was well prepared for that.

For weeks and weeks she had been preparing herself for this unhappy
moment. She knew that the time would come when she would have to face him
and defend herself. She would have to deny the man she loved. She would
have to tell him that she was going for a higher price than he could pay.
The time had come and she was ready. The weakness of the minute before had
passed--passed with his failure to strike when, with all her heart and
soul, she wanted him to strike.

"You need not be frightened," he said, subduing his voice with an effort.
"Let us take time to steady ourselves. We have a good deal to say to each
other. Let's be careful not to waste words, now that we're face to face at
last."

"I am quite calm," she said, stock-still beside the table. "Why should I
be frightened? I am the last person in the w