"I am not so sure," he answered. "But in any case--"

He paused. The music had ceased altogether, and an expectant silence
prevailed. He looked at her intently as he waited, till aware that she
shrank from his scrutiny.

A long deep note boomed through the house, echoing weirdly through the
intense silence. Carey put up his hand without speaking, and stripped
off his mask. He crumpled it into a ball as the second note struck, and
looked at her. She had not moved. He waited silently.

At the sixth note she made a sudden, almost passionate gesture and rose.
Carey remained motionless, watching her. Swiftly she turned, and began
to walk away from him. He leaned forward. His eyes were fixed upon her.

Three more strokes! She stopped abruptly, turning back as if he had
spoken. Moving slowly, and still masked, she came back to him. He met
her under a lamp. His face was very pale, but his eyes were steady and
piercingly keen. He took her hand, bending over it till his lips touched
her glove.

"I know you now," he said, his voice very low.

Three more strokes, and silence.

A ripple of laughter suddenly ran through the house, a gay voice called
for three cheers, and as though a spell had been lifted the merriment
burst out afresh in tune to the lilting dance-music.

Carey straightened himself slowly, still holding the slender hand in
his. Her mask had gone at last, and he stood face to face with the woman
of his dream--the woman whose hard-won security he had only that morning
pledged himself to shatter.

VII

"You know me," she said.

"Yes; I know you. And I know your secret, too."

The words sounded stern. He was putting strong restraint upon himself.

She faced him without flinching, her look as steady as his own. And yet
again it was to Carey as though he stood in the presence of a queen. She
did not say a word.

"Will you believe me," he said slowly, "when I tell you that I would
give all I have not to know it?"

She raised her beautiful brows for a moment, but still she said nothing.

He let her hand go. "I was on the point of searching to the world's end
for you," he said. "But since I have found you here of all places, I am
bound to take advantage of it. Forgive me, if you can!"

He saw a gleam of apprehension in her eyes.

"What is it you want to say to me?" she asked.

He passed the question by.

"You know me, I suppose?"

She bent her head.

"I fancied it was you from the first. When