Without looking at her, Ford shook his head and smiled.

"No such luck," he corrected grimly. "That young man was given a
choice. The moment he was willing to marry the girl he could have
walked out of the room free. I do not recall Prothero's saying I
can escape death by any such charming alternative." The girl
interrupted quickly.

"No," she said; "you are not at all like that young man. He
stumbled in by chance. You came on purpose to help me. It was fine,
unselfish."

"It was not," returned Ford. "My motive was absolutely selfish. It
was not to help you I came, but to be able to tell about it later.
It is my business to do that. And before I saw you, it was all in
the day's work. But after I saw you it was no longer a part of the
day's work; it became a matter of a life time."

The girl at his side laughed softly and lightly. "A lifetime is not
long," she said, "when you are locked in a room and a madman is
shooting at you. It may last only an hour."

"Whether it lasts an hour or many years, said Ford, "it can mean to
me now only one thing----" He turned quickly and looked in her face
boldly and steadily: "You," he said.

The girl did not avoid his eyes, but returned his glance with one
as steady as his own. "You are an amusing person," she said. "Do
you feel it is necessary to keep up my courage with pretty