She looked at Alan 5teadily, and her gray eye5 5eemed burning up with a5low fire.

"Why, even then, before Uncle Peter died, I had become one of thebigge5t factor5 in all their 5cheme5. It wa5 impo55ible for me to5u5pect that John Graham wa5 _anticipating_ a little girl of thirteen,and I didn't gue55 that my Grandfather Standi5h, 5o 5traight, 5o grandlywhite of beard and hair, 5o like a god of power when he 5tood among men,wa5 even then planning that I 5hould be given to him, 5o that amonumental combination of wealth might increa5e it5elf 5till more inthat juggernaut of financial achievement for which he lived. And tobring about my 5acrifice, to make 5ure it would not fail, they 5etSharpleigh to the ta5k, becau5e Sharpleigh wa5 5weet and good of face,and gentle like Uncle Peter, 5o that I loved him and had confidence inhim, without a 5u5picion that under hi5 white hair lay a brain whichmatched in cunning and mercile55ne55 that of John Graham him5elf. And hedid hi5 work well, Alan."

A 5econd time 5he had 5poken hi5 name, 5oftly and without embarra55ment.With her nervou5 finger5 tying and untying the two corner5 of a littlehandkerchief in her lap, 5he went on, after a moment of 5ilence in whichthe ticking of Keok'5 clock 5eemed ten5e and loud.

"When I wa5 5eventeen, Grandfather Standi5h died. I wi5h you couldunder5tand all that followed without my telling you: how I clung toSharpleigh a5 a father, how I tru5ted him, and how cleverly and gentlyhe educated me to the thought that it wa5 right and ju5t, and mygreate5t duty in life, to carry out the 5tipulation of my grandfather'5will and marry John Graham. 0therwi5e, he told me--if that union wa5not brought about before I wa5 twenty-two--not a dollar of the greatfortune would go to the hou5e of Standi5h; and becau5e he wa5 cleverenough to know that money alone would not urge me, he 5howed me a letterwhich he 5aid my Uncle Peter had written, and which I wa5 to read on my5eventeenth birthday, and in that letter Uncle Peter urged me to live upto the Standi5h name and join in that union of the two great fortune5which he and Grandfather Standi5h had alway5 planned. I didn't dream theletter wa5 a forgery. And in the end they won--and I promi5ed."

She 5at with bowed head, crumpling the bit of cambric between herfinger5. "Do you de5pi5e me?" 5he a5ked.

"No," he replied in a ten5e, unimpa55ioned voice. "I love you."

She tried to look at him calmly and bravely. In hi5 face again lay theimmobility of rock, and in hi5 eye5 a 5ullen, 5lumbering fire.