cuse you. But I did. I do now. You stole the money a second time." Her
words were low, but in them was an extraordinary vehemence, the
tenseness of repressed feeling.

"So he wouldn't accuse me, nor yet wouldn't deny that I was the man.
Well, I'll not deny it either, since you're so sure."

"You are wise, sir. You can't delude me a second time. Your denial would
count for nothing. And now I think there is nothing more to be said."

She had risen and was about to turn away. A gesture of his hand stopped
her.

"If you were so sure about me why didn't you have the officers here to
arrest me?"

"Because--because you are a relative of my friends."

"That was the only reason, was it?"

"What other reason could there be?" she asked, a flash of warning in her
eyes.

"There might be this reason--that at the bottom of your heart you know I
didn't do it."

"Can you tell me you didn't hold up Captain Kilmeny? Dare you tell me
that?"

He shrugged his broad shoulders. "No, I held him up."

"And robbed him."

"If you like to put it that way. I had to do it."

"Had to rob your friend, the man who had offered to stand by you. Oh, I
don't want to hear any of your excuses."

"Yes, you do," he told her quietly. "What's more, you are going to hear
them--and right now. You're entitled to an explanation, and it's my
right to make you listen."

"Can you talk away facts? You robbed your cousin when he was trying to
be your friend. That may mean nothing to you. It means a great deal to
me," she cried passionately.

"Sho! An opera bouffe hold-up. I'll make it right with him when I see
Captain Kilmeny."

"You admit you took the money?"

"Sure I took it. Had to have it in my business. If you'll sit down again
and listen, neighbor, I'll tell you the whole story."

The amused assurance in his manner stirred resentment.

"No."

"Yes."

The clash of battle was in the meeting of their eyes. She had courage,
just as he had, but she was fighting against her own desire.

"I have listened too often already," she protested.

"It hasn't hurt you any, has it?"

"Lady Farquhar thinks it has." The words slipped out before she could
stop them, but as their import came home to her the girl's face flamed.
"I mean that--that----"

"I know what you mean," he told her easily, a smile in his shrewd eyes.
"You're a young woman--and I'm an ineligible man. So Lady Farquhar
thinks we oughtn't to meet. That's all bosh. I'm not intending t