“Is this the first time—­” she began, and stopped short.

“No ...  I’ve watched you every night for nearly two weeks.”

“What was the idea?” she threw out, with an air of banter.

He stood up suddenly.  “I wanted to see how much I could stand,” he answered.

She closed her eyes for a moment ... her immobility was full of tremulous fear and hope.

“Ah!” she said, finally.  “So you did care, after all!”

“Yes ... when it was too late.”

She crossed over to him, putting one wan finger on his trembling lips in protest.  She did not speak, but he read the thrilling simplicity of her silence completely.  “Love is never too late!” was what her eloquent gesture implied.

He thrust her forward at arm’s length, searching her eyes.  “You are right,” he said, slowly.  “And yet it can be bitter!”

She released herself gently.  “You shouldn’t have watched me like that ... it wasn’t fair.”

“I didn’t think you would ever know...  And that first night I didn’t intend to watch ... not really.  After that it got to be habit...  You’ve no idea the capacity for suffering an unhappy man can acquire.”

She took off her hat and flung it on the bed.  “What made you follow me to-night?”

“You came out of a clear sky ... when I needed you most ... as you have always done...  I didn’t think I could ever escape that man waiting for me below—­not even for an instant...  To-morrow, at this time, I may be dead ... or worse.”

“Dead?”

“To-morrow, at noon, I’m scheduled to blow up Axel Hilmer...  There will be five others in the party ... my wife and his among them.”

Her body was rigid ... only her lips moved.  “You are going to do it?”

“No.”

She passed a fluttering hand over her forehead.  “But you spoke of death...”

He smiled bitterly.  “Either I shall be dead—­or the man waiting for me on the street corner...  I shall not tell him my decision until the last moment.  I don’t want to give him the chance to work in an understudy or complete the job himself...  Will you go to Hilmer to-morrow and warn him?...  He arrives from the south at the Third and Townsend depot somewhere around eleven o’clock.  Advise him to postpone the launching.  And have the approaches to the shipyards combed for radicals...  Let them watch particularly for a man with a kodak on the roof of the stores opposite the north gate.”

She picked up her hat quickly.  “I’ll go out now and warn the police ... indirectly.  I have ways, you know.”

He put out a restraining hand.  “No ... that’s risky.  My friend Storch has spies everywhere.  He’s giving me a little rope here ... he may be waiting just to see how foolishly I use it.  If you lie low until to-morrow there will be less of a chance of things going wrong...  Besides, I owe this man something.  He’s fed and sheltered me.  I’m going to give him an even break.  You would do that much, I’m sure.”