"Take my own case," he cried, with a sudden little burst of passion.
"You are the most beautiful woman whom I have ever seen, you are kind to
me, you suffer me to be your companion. Yet if I commit the folly of
falling in love with you, you will dismiss me in a moment without a
sigh. I am only an ordinary being. Don't you think that I am wise if I
try to avoid running such a risk?"

She laughed softly.

"What a calculating mortal. Is this all the effect of Mr. Rice's
warning?"

Well, isn't it truth?

She shook her head.

"I can't pretend to say. Do any of us really know, I wonder, what we
would do under any given circumstances? I wish you would tell me
exactly what your friend complained of in my treatment of him."

"He spoke--not only of himself," Douglas answered. "There was a man
called Silverton."

"What?"

He looked across at her in swift surprise. It seemed to him that her
anger had suddenly changed into a wonderful and speechless terror. Her
left hand was buried in the sofa cushions, the pupils of her eyes were
dilated, she was bloodless to the lips. When she spoke it was hard to