death?"

"That is how I expected you to speak," Arnold Rent replied.  "Always so unselfish and considerate for the feelings of others, always putting yourself in the background! My dear, sweet saint, what are those paltry ambitions of mine compared with my love for you? Who am I that I should set out to reform the world single-handed? Why should not the world know your story, for that matter? I may be obscured for the moment, but when people come to understand I shall rank as high as ever. With you by my side I could do anything. We could set up a creed and programme of our own, based on the broader doctrines of true charity. I little thought when your husband asked me to meet him here to-night——"

"That is how I expected you to speak," Arnold Rent replied.  "Always so unselfish and considerate for the feelings of others, always putting yourself in the background! My dear, sweet saint, what are those paltry ambitions of mine compared with my love for you? Who am I that I should set out to reform the world single-handed? Why should not the world know your story, for that matter? I may be obscured for the moment, but when people come to understand I shall rank as high as ever. With you by my side I could do anything. We could set up a creed and programme of our own, based on the broader doctrines of true charity. I little thought when your husband asked me to meet him here to-night——"

"To meet you here to-night?" Kate Charlock cried.  "Do you mean to say that you came here by appointment? Oh, now I begin to see. Now I begin to understand."

"To meet you here to-night?" Kate Charlock cried.  "Do you mean to say that you came here by appointment? Oh, now I begin to see. Now I begin to understand."

She checked herself suddenly. She pressed her handkerchief to her eyes as if overcome with the excess of her emotions.  The action filled Rent with deepest and sincerest pity. It was not for him to guess how near the woman had come to betraying herself.

She checked herself suddenly. She pressed her handkerchief to her eyes as if overcome with the excess of her emotions. The action filled Rent with deepest and sincerest pity. It was not for him to guess how near the woman had come to betraying herself.

So this had been part of John Charlock's revenge. He had thrown these two deliberately together at the very moment when defenceless beauty must most need champion and defender. A less wise and more honest woman 

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