.

He waited for a while, his eyes so immovably fixed upon hers that
she had a mild wonder if they were lidless--as the eyes of a
serpent.

Then at last, through grim pale lips that did not seem to move, he
spoke again. "Madam, it lies with you whether Guy Ranger lives or
dies. You can open to him the earthly paradise or you can hurl him
back to hell. I have only Drought him a little way. I cannot keep
him. Even now, he is slipping--he is slipping from my hold. It is
you, and you alone, who can save him. How do I know this thing?
How do I know that the sun rises in the east? I--have--seen. It
is you who have taken from him the desire to live--perhaps
unintentionally; that I do not know. It is you--and you alone--who
can restore it. Need I say more than this to open your eyes?
Perhaps they are already open. Perhaps already your heart has been
in communion with his. If so, then you know that I have told you
the truth. If you really desire to save him--and I think you
do--then everything else in life must go to that end. Women were
made for sacrifice, they say." A sardonic flicker that was
scarcely a smile touched his face. "Well, that is the only way of
saving him. If you fail him, he will go under."

He got up with the words. He had evidently said his say. As his
hand left hers, Sylvia drew a deep hard breath, as of one emerging
from a suffocating atmosphere. She had never felt so oppressed, so
fettered, with evil in the whole of her life. And yet he had not
urged her to any line of action. He had merely somewhat baldly,
wholly dispassionately, told her the truth, and the very absence of
emotion with which he had spoken had driven conviction to her soul.
She saw him go with relief, but his words remained like a stone at
the bottom of her heart.

CHAPTER XI

THE REMEDY

When Sylvia went to Guy a little later, she found him installed in
Burke's room. Burke himself was out on the farm, but it was past
the usual hour for luncheon, and she knew he would be returning
soon.

Kieff rose up noiselessly from the bedside at her entrance, and she
saw that Guy was asleep. She was conscious of a surging,
passionate longing to be alone with him as she crept forward. The
silent presence of this stranger had a curious, nauseating effect
upon her. She suppressed a shudder as she passed him.

He stood behind her in utter immobility as she bent over the bed.
Guy was lying very still, but though