Galen Albret snarled like a wild beast, throwing aside the girl, as he
did the chair in which he had been sitting. Ned Trent caught her,
reeling, in his arms.

For, as is often the case with passionate but strong temperaments,
though the Factor had attained a certain calm of control, the turmoil
of his deeper anger had not been in the least stilled. Over it a crust
of determination had formed--the determination to make an end by the
directest means in his autocratic power of this galling opposition.
The girl's pleading, instead of appealing to him, had in reality but
stirred his fury the more profoundly. It had added a new fuel element
to the fire. Heretofore his consciousness had felt merely the
thwarting of his pride, his authority, his right to loyalty. Now his
daughter's entreaty brought home to him the bitter realization that he
had been attained on another side--that of his family affection. This
man had also killed for him his only child. For the child had
renounced him, had thrust him outside herself into the lonely and
ruined temple of his pride. At the first thought his face twisted with
emotion, then hardened to cold malice.

"Love you!" he cried. "Love you! An unnatural child! An ingrate! One
who turns from me so lightly!" He laughed bitterly, eyeing her with
chilling scrutiny. "You dare recall my love for you!" Suddenly he
stood upright, levelling a heavy, trembling arm at her. "You think an
appeal to my love will save him! Fool!"

Virginia's breath caught in her throat. She straightened, clutched the
neckband of her gown. Then her head fell slowly forward. She had
fainted in her lover's arms.