wer that."

She paused and Luzanne flushed. The first meeting! Why, that was the day
Carnac had saved her life, had taken her home safe from danger, and had
begun a friendship with behind it only a desire to help her. And how had
she repaid the saviour of her life? By tricking him into a marriage, and
then by threatening him if he did not take her to his home. Truth
is, down beneath her misconduct was a passion for the man which, not
satisfied, became a passion to destroy him and his career. It was
a characteristic of her blood and breed. It was a relic of ancient
dishonour, inherited and searching; it was atavism and the incorrigible
thing. Beneath everything was her desire for the man, and the mood in
which she had fought for him was the twist of a tortured spirit. She was
not so deliberate as her actions had indicated. She had been under the
malicious influence of her father and her father's friend. She was like
one possessed of a spirit that would not be deterred from its purpose.
Junia saw the impression she had made, and set it down to her last
words.

"Where did you first meet him? What was the way of it?" she added.

Suddenly Junia came forward and put her hands on Luzanne's shoulders. "I
think you loved Carnac once, and perhaps you love him now, and are only
trying to hurt him out of anger. If you destroy him, you will repent of
it--so soon! I don't know what is behind these things you are doing, but
you'll be sorry for it when it is too late. Yes, I know you have loved
Carnac, for I see all the signs--"

"Do you love him then, ma'm'selle?" asked Luzanne exasperated. "Do you
love him?"

"He has never asked me, and I have never told him that; and I don't
know, but, if I did, I would move heaven and earth to help him, and if
he didn't love me I'd help him just the same. And so, I think, should
you. If you ever loved him, then you ought to save him from evil. Tell
me, did Carnac ever do you a kind act, one that is worth while in your
life?"

For a moment Luzanne stood dismayed, then a new expression drove the
dark light from her eyes. It was as though she had found a new sense.

"He saved my life the day we first met," she said at last under Junia's
hypnotic influence.

"And now you would strike him when he is trying to do the big thing. You
threaten to declare his marriage, in the face of those who can elect him
to play a great part for his country."

Junia saw the girl was in emotional turmoil, was ob