not see that I have
used you badly. You know to what we were drifting. Why bandy words? You
know that had I stayed in Jericho my soul would have been lost today,
and I would have been an outcast, or dead! It is better so. It is best
that we never meet again if we can help it."

He spoke tensely and rapidly and moved towards the door as he
concluded. But she was nearer it. The game was not played out. She
silently glided in front of him and put her back against the door,
stretching her arms out to form a barricade, and again she laughed--a
sound which made the man recoil and nervously draw his hand across his
forehead and eyes.

He had heard it before! It awoke old memories which he had believed
dead, but the tomb of the heart will open again to a remembered word,
laugh, expression, or perfume. And the attar! It was hers. He had never
smelled anything like it. It was Oriental in its mysterious sweetness
and effect. Barely discernible to the nostrils, it crept to the brain
and wrought shadow-pictures upon the tapestry of the mind which it were
better for mortal eyes not to behold. He was feeling the force of this
strange perfume, which, coupled with her fascinating, if baneful
personality, was beginning to beset him mercilessly. She knew her power,
so well! But he was fortified with a hidden strength of which she did
not know--brown eyes of trust, and a face as sweet and innocent as a
flower. She barred his way. He could not pass until she gave him leave.
He might have swept her aside with two fingers, but he was afraid to
try. He knew what it was to be near her.

"Let me pass!" he exclaimed, resting the knuckle of his forefinger upon
the corner of the table.

"You look very handsome tonight!" she told him, ignoring his demand.
"Can you not find a like compliment in your heart for me?"

He did not reply, but his face was flushed and his breath was coming
faster.

"You seem to have aged considerably," she resumed, "although it has been
only a few weeks since you went away. But it has helped you. I'm going
to give you a last chance now. Won't you come and speak to me as you
used to do? If you won't, I am coming to you!"

Her arms fell to her sides.

The man knew she meant it, and a rage which was his salvation began to
mount slowly within him.

"If I do as you ask, will you stand aside, and allow me to go?"

"Yes, if you will want to go--then!"

He came straight towards her, his whole nature set and hard as ad