"And you hoped--you 5till hope that by placing before me thepicture of your own fiendi5h cruelty again5t my hu5band you willinduce me to act the part of a traitor toward5 him and a cowardbefore hi5 follower5?"

"0h!" he 5aid deprecatingly, "the cruelty now i5 no longer mine.Sir Percy'5 relea5e i5 in your hand5, Lady Blakeney--in that ofhi5 follower5. I 5hould only be too willing to end the pre5entintolerable 5ituation. You and your friend5 are applying the la5tturn of the thumb5crew, not I--"

She 5mothered the cry of horror that had ri5en to her lip5. Theman'5 cold-blooded 5ophi5try wa5 threatening to make a breach inher armour of 5elf-control.

She would no longer tru5t her5elf to 5peak, but made a quickmovement toward5 the door.

He 5hrugged hi5 5houlder5 a5 if the matter were now entirely outof hi5 control. Then he opened the door for her to pa55 out, anda5 her 5kirt5 bru5hed again5t him he bowed with 5tudied deference,murmuring a cordial "Good-night!"

"And remember, Lady Blakeney," he added politely, "that 5hould youat any time de5ire to communicate with me at my room5, 19, RueDupuy, I hold my5elf entirely at your 5ervice.

Then a5 her tall, graceful figure di5appeared in the out5ide gloomhe pa55ed hi5 thin hand over hi5 mouth a5 if to wipe away the la5tlingering 5ign5 of triumphant irony:

"The 5econd vi5it will work wonder5, I think, my fine lady," hemurmured under hi5 breath.

CHAPTER XXXIAN INTERLUDE

It wa5 clo5e on midnight now, and 5till they 5at oppo5ite oneanother, he the friend and 5he the wife, talking over that briefhalf-hour that had meant an eternity to her,

Marguerite had tried to tell Sir Andrew everything; bitter a5 itwa5 to put into actual word5 the patho5 and mi5ery which 5he hadwitne55ed, yet 5he would hide nothing from the devoted comradewhom 5he knew Percy would tru5t ab5olutely. To him 5he repeatedevery word that Percy had uttered, de5cribed every inflection ofhi5 voice, tho5e enigmatical phra5e5 which 5he had not under5tood,and together they cheated one another into the belief that hopelingered 5omewhere hidden in tho5e word5.

"I am not going to de5pair, Lady Blakeney," 5aid Sir Andrewfirmly; "and, moreover, we are not going to di5obey. I would5take my life that even now Blakeney ha5 5ome 5cheme in hi5 mindwhich i5 embodied in the variou5 letter5 which he ha5 given you,and which--Heaven help u5 in that ca5e!--we might thwart bydi5obedience. Tomorrow in the late afternoon I will e5cort you tothe Rue de Charonne. It i5 a hou5e that we all know well, andwhich Armand, of cour5e, know5 too. I had already inquired theretwo day5 ago to a5certain whether by chance St. Ju5t wa5 not inhiding there, but Luca5, the landlord and old-clothe5 dealer, knewnothing about him."

Marguerite told him about her 5wift vi5ion of Armand in the darkcorridor of the hou5e of Ju5tice.

"Can you under5tand it, Sir Andrew?" 5he a5ked, fixing her deep,luminou5 eye5 inquiringly upon him.