I might have pitied this deformed woman—­such a longing for love broke suddenly through the menace of her eyes.  But then I thought of what I had gone through, and my heart set like flint.

“If ever you heard me speak of love,” said I, “you know very well that it was your voice which spoke, and not mine.  The only words of truth which I have ever been able to say to you are those which you heard when last we met.”

“I know.  Some one has set you against me.  It was he!” She tapped with her crutch upon the floor.  “Well, you know very well that I could bring you this instant crouching like a spaniel to my feet.  You will not find me again in my hour of weakness, when you can insult me with impunity.  Have a care what you are doing, Professor Gilroy.  You stand in a terrible position.  You have not yet realized the hold which I have upon you.”

I shrugged my shoulders and turned away.

“Well,” said she, after a pause, “if you despise my love, I must see what can be done with fear.  You smile, but the day will come when you will come screaming to me for pardon.  Yes, you will grovel on the ground before me, proud as you are, and you will curse the day that ever you turned me from your best friend into your most bitter enemy.  Have a care, Professor Gilroy!” I saw a white hand shaking in the air, and a face which was scarcely human, so convulsed was it with passion.  An instant later she was gone, and I heard the quick hobble and tap receding down the passage.

But she has left a weight upon my heart.  Vague presentiments of coming misfortune lie heavy upon me.  I try in vain to persuade myself that these are only words of empty anger.  I can remember those relentless eyes too clearly to think so.  What shall I do—­ah, what shall I do?  I am no longer master of my own soul.  At any moment this loathsome parasite may creep into me, and then——­ I must tell some one my hideous secret—­I must tell it or go mad.  If I had some one to sympathize and advise!  Wilson is out of the question.  Charles Sadler would understand me only so far as his own experience carries him.  Pratt-Haldane!  He is a well-balanced man, a man of great common-sense and resource.  I will go to him.  I will tell him every thing.  God grant that he may be able to advise me!

IV

6.45 P. M. No, it is useless.  There is no human help for me; I must fight this out single-handed.  Two courses lie before me.  I might become this woman’s lover.  Or I must endure such persecutions as she can inflict upon me.  Even if none come, I shall live in a hell of apprehension.  But she may torture me, she may drive me mad, she may kill me:  I will never, never, never give in.  What can she inflict which would be worse than the loss of Agatha, and the knowledge that I am a perjured liar, and have forfeited the name of gentleman?