lay--uncomforted and alone.




XXVIII


Terrible as was his loneliness, a meeting with Jack would have been more
terrible. And, after all, it was true, a gulf had opened between them.

Ethel alone could bring solace to his soul. There was a great void in
his heart which only she could fill. He hungered for the touch of her
hand. He longed for her presence strongly, as a wanton lusts for
pleasure and as sad men crave death.

Noiselessly he stole to the door so as not to arouse the attention of
the other two men, whose every whisper pierced his heart like a dagger.
When he came to Ethel's home, he found that she had gone out for a
breath of air. The servant ushered him into the parlor, and there he
waited, waited, waited for her.

Greatly calmed by his walk, he turned the details of Clarke's
conversation over in his mind, and the conviction grew upon him that
the friend of his boyhood was not to blame for his course of action.
Reginald probably had encircled Jack's soul with his demoniacal
influence and singled him out for another victim. That must never be. It
was his turn to save now. He would warn his friend of the danger that
threatened him, even if his words should be spoken into the wind. For
Reginald, with an ingenuity almost satanic, had already suggested that