see her picture in the "studio" at the House
by the Lock, I was doubly surprised to see it in a locket worn by a
young desperado on the other side of the world. Impulsively I withdrew
my hand which held the ornament, with the feeling that the man had no
right to it--that I could not return it to him again.

"Give it back to me!" he ejaculated, forgetting his evident fear of me
for the first time, and speaking with a certain manly fierceness that
thawed the chill of my contempt for him. "If I've got a right to nothing
else on earth, I've got a right to that. It's a portrait of my sister."

"_Your sister!_ You swear that?"

"Of course I swear it. I don't see why you shouldn't know it--though I
haven't done much credit to the name of Cunningham."

I could not doubt him. Not that I had not every reason to believe that
he would be willing to lie as fast as he could speak if it happened to
suit his purpose, but the ring of sincerity in his voice was
unmistakable.

I let go my hold upon him. Such was his astonishment at the manoeuvre
that he made no attempt to take advantage of his freedom, but simply
stood still and stared at me.

"Here is the locket," I said. "I came from England to California to
serve Miss Cunningham's interests, and I will not lay my hand upon her
brother."

"I don't know what you mean," he said, sullenly.

"I'll tell you," I returned, "if you'll sit down here and listen to me
for a few minutes longer. After that, as far as I am concerned, you are
free to do as you choose. You look surprised--but whatever may have been
your faults and your offences, I would stake my life you love your
sister."

"She is the only being on earth I do love," he replied, still half
dazedly.

Then he sat down, his eyes furtively on me, and I seated myself beside
him.

"She is sacrificing herself for someone," I remarked. "I think I begin
dimly to understand now who that someone may be. I think, too, that
circumstances have given me the right to be inquisitive, as I can still
further explain to you later on. Is Miss Cunningham going to marry
Carson Wildred to save you from any unpleasant consequences of the past,
for instance?"

He started as though he had been struck.

"She is _not_ going to marry Carson Wildred!" he exclaimed.

"Oh, yes, she is, unless it can be prevented. I see I have even more to
tell you than I thought. Is it long, may I ask, since you have seen your
sister?"

"Last November," he said d