out, who will care for you and seek you for a wife? Not your handsome lover, Leonard Yorke; and even if his love is strong enough to stand the shock of the disgrace[Pg 37] and exposure of your family secret, his mother—proud Helen Yorke—would sooner see her only son dead than wedded to you, the child of——”

[Pg 37]

“Hush! I forbid you to speak such words to me. I forbid you to mention the name of Leonard Yorke.”

“Yes! Too good to pass the lips of a reprobate like Gil Warrington, I suppose? But I know the world better than you do, my dear Miss Arleigh, and I assure you that, when this that I have to tell becomes known, when the truth is made public, you will prove your friends then, and my word for it, Leonard Yorke will not be among the number. He will be the very first to desert you.”

“It is false! Mr. Warrington, I will hear no more of this. Leave me! Have you no pity, no compassion for me, whose mother lies upstairs dead and cold?”

An ugly sneer disfigured his face.

“Business before pleasure,” he returned, coarsely; “and my errand with you admits of no delay. Once more I ask you the question: Are you going to act a submissive part, Miss Violet Arleigh, in that which is before us?”

She turned away. She could not speak.

“Go!” she repeated, sternly, waving her hand in the direction of the door. “I can bear no more of this. Listen! Some one is coming to me now!”

There was a faint rap at the door of the room, and then Leonard Yorke’s voice called softly:

“Violet! Violet! May I come in? Don’t stay there[Pg 38] all alone, dear Violet! Open the door and let me come in and comfort you.”

[Pg 38]

Gilbert Warrington’s lips parted in a cruel smile.

“Yes, to be sure! Let him comfort you while he may, my dear Violet! His days of comforting will soon be at an end. You had better promise me what I ask,” he added, harshly. “If you do not, you will be sorry. Say yes—just the one word yes! Violet—I know that your simple verbal promise will be as good as another person’s guarantee—just say yes, and I will step out of the window yonder and be gone before Mr. Leonard Yorke suspects my presence here. You had better consent, Violet.”

She stood 

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