To lose her was a conjecture so fraught with pain, that his swart face blanched, and his voice quivered under its weight of tender entreaty.

“What is it that sustains you in your frightful martyrdom?  Why do you endure these horrors which might be abolished?  You hurl me back upon the loathsome thought that love, love for a depraved, brutal wretch is the secret that baffles me.  I might be able to see you die, to lay you, stainless snowdrop that you are, in the coffin that would keep you sacred forever; but please God!  I will never endure the pain of seeing you leave these sheltering walls to walk into that man’s arms.  I swear to you by all I hold most precious, that if he be yet alive, I will hand him over to retribution.”

He had pushed aside the table, and stood before her, with the one wholly absorbing love of his life glowing in his face.  She dared not meet the gaze that thrilled her with an exquisite happiness, and involuntarily rose.  Had she not strangled the impulse, her fluttering heart would have prompted her to lean forward, rest her head against his arm, and tell him all; but close as they stood, and realizing that she reigned supreme in his affection, one seemed to rise reproachfully between them; that generous, gentle woman to whom his faith was pledged.  No matter at what cost, she must guard Leo’s peace of mind; and to dispel his jealous illusion now, would speedily overwhelm the tottering fabric of his allegiance.  Folding her arms tightly across her breast, she answered proudly: 

“So be it then.  Do your worst.”

“You admit it!”

“I admit nothing.”

“You defy me?”

“Defy?  It seems I am always at the mercy of Tiberius.”

“Can you look at me, and deny that you are screening your lover?”

She quickly lifted her head, with a peculiar haughty movement that reminded him of a desperate stag at bay, and he never forgot the expression of her eyes.

“I deny that Miss Gordon’s accepted lover has any right to catechise me concerning a subject which, were his suspicions correct, should invest it with a sanctity inviolable by wanton curiosity.”

He recoiled slightly as from a lash.

“Miss Gordon is on the eve of sailing through the sunny isles of Greece; and while she is absent I purpose finding my nepenthe in my hunt for murderers among Montana wilds.  You have defied me, and I will do my worst, nay, my very best to catch and hang that cowardly rogue who adroitly used your handkerchief as the instrument to aid his crime.”

She walked a few steps, putting once more between them the table, against which she leaned.

“If you are successful, and the mystery of that awful murder should be unravelled, you will then comprehend something of the desperation that makes me endure even this crucifixion of soul; and in that day, when you discover the fugitive lover, you will blush for the taunts aimed at a defenceless and sorely-stricken woman.”