e had been leaning against
a book-case, and from it she now slipped sideways to the floor.

"You brute!" said Beauchamp. "You will answer to me for this."

"When you please," returned Alec. "Meantime you will leave this room,
or I will make you."

"Go to the devil!" said Beauchamp, again laying his hand on his dirk.

"You can claim fair play no more than a wolf," said Alec, keeping his
eye on his enemy's hand. "You had better go. I have only to ring this
bell and the sacrist will be here."

"That is your regard for your cousin! You would expose her to the
servants!"

"I will expose her to anything rather than to you. I have held my
tongue too long."

"And you will leave her lying here?"

"You will leave her lying here."

"That is your revenge, is it?"

"I want no revenge even on you, Beauchamp. Go."

"I will neither forestall nor forget mine," said Beauchamp, as he
turned and went out into the quadrangle.

When Alec came to think about it, he could not understand the ease of
his victory. He did not know what a power their first encounter had
given him over the inferior nature of Beauchamp, in whom the animal,
unsupported by the moral, was cowed before the animal in Forbes, backed
by the sense of right.

And above all things Beauchamp hated to find himself in an awkward
position, which certainly would have been his case if Alec had rung for
the sacrist. Nor was he capable of acting well on the spur of any
moment. He must have plans: those he would carry out remorselessly.--So
he went away to excogitate further revenge. But he was in love with
Kate just enough to be uneasy as to the result of Alec's interview with
her.

Returning to Kate, Alec found her moaning. He supported her head as she
had done for him in that old harvest field, and chafed her chilly
hands. Before her senses had quite returned, she began to talk, and,
after several inarticulate attempts, her murmured words became plain.

"Never mind, dear," she said; "the boy is wild. He doesn't know what he
says. Oh, Patrick, my heart is aching with love to you. It is good
love, I know; and you must be kind to me, and not make me do what I
don't like to do. And you must forgive my poor cousin, for he did not
mean to tell lies. He fancies you bad, because I love you so much more
than him. But you know I can't help it, and I daresay he can't either."

Alec felt as if a green flame were consuming his brain. And the blood
surged so into his head and