" is the grave, almost stern reply. "But do
you mean that, after receiving my letter, you returned those that I
asked for--that I had a right to see?"

"They were called for; and they were not mine to do as I chose with."

"Will you tell me how and by whom they were called for?"

He has risen now, and is standing under the chandelier, drawn to his
full height.

"I do not wish to speak of it further. I have told the person that you
denied the truth of them, and that is enough."

"I am sorry that you mentioned me to the person, or weighed my
statements in any such scale."

"Paul Abbot!" she breaks in impetuously, rising too. "You say you never
wrote to this girl, and I believe you; but tell me this: have you never
seen her? do you not at this moment care for her infinitely more than
you do for me?"

He considers a moment. It is a leading question; one he had not
expected; but he will not stoop to the faintest equivocation. Still, he
wants her to understand.

"Listen, Viva. Up to the time of your letter's coming she was a stranger
to me. Now I have met her. She and her father were in the same hotel
with us at Washington; and she, too, has been victimized by forged
letters as you have."

"Enough, enough! Why not end it where it is? You know well that if you
cared for me _that_ would be the first assurance. Granted that we have
both been cheated, fooled, tricked, why keep up the farce of a loveless
engagement? That, at least, must end _now_."

"Even if it should, Viva, I am not absolved from a duty I owe you. It
is my conviction that you have been drawn into a correspondence with a
man against whom it is my solemn right and duty to warn you at once. You
have no brother. For Heaven's sake be guided by what I say. Whatever may
have been his influence in the past, you can never in the future
recognize Mr. Hollins. If not captured by this time, he is a disgraced
exile and deserter."

"He is nothing of the kind! You, and imperious men like you, denied to
him the companionship of his brother officers, and his sensitive nature
could not stand it. He has resigned and left the service, that is all."

"You are utterly mistaken, Viva. What I tell you is the solemn truth.
For your name's sake I implore you tell me what has been his influence
in the past. I well know he can be nothing to you in the future, Viva.
You are not in communication with him now, are you?"

A ring at the bell. The old butler comes sleepily shuffli