The hapless young wife looked into the hard, set face above her, her eyes dilating with fear.

Her brain reeled; it seemed to her that she was dying.

"Listen to what I have to say," exclaimed Royal Ainsley, his hand tightening on her shoulder. "You have a fine home here—much finer than I could possibly offer you—and I propose that you shall keep it. There is no use in wasting sentiment between us. We do not care for each other, and you do care for Eugene Mallard. It will be some satisfaction for you to live beneath this roof, and I won't mind it at all, providing you make it worth my while. I will make my meaning clearer to you. I must have some money, and you are the one who must help me to it. Get a thousand dollars, and I will go away and never again molest you. Come, now, what do you say?"

Ida drew back and looked at him.

"You know that I could not get it for you," she said, with calmness.

"You know the alternative," he said, harshly.

"No matter what the alternative is, I—I could not help you," she answered, huskily.

"If you refuse," he went on, "I can have Eugene Mallard and yourself arrested for bigamy. I can send you both to prison, and, so help me Heaven, I'll do it! You say that you love Eugene Mallard. We will see if you love him well enough to save him."

"You monster!" she gasped, wildly, "you would not[201] do such a thing, I say. You dare not outrage Heaven like that."

"The shoe is on the other foot. It is you who have outraged Heaven in violating the law. I must have that money, and you know I am a desperate man."

He would not tell her just now that her child was alive. He would save that piece of news for some other time.

Before she could reply, they saw some of the servants crossing the lawn.

"I must go!" she cried, wrenching herself free from his grasp. "They have come in search of me!"

"I shall be here to-morrow night at this very spot awaiting your answer," he said, harshly.

Why had Heaven let Royal Ainsley find her? Had he not already brought misery enough into her life?

She turned the matter over in her mind. Every word he had said, every threat he had made, occurred to her.

Would he make good his threat, and take vengeance upon the man she loved if she refused to raise one thousand dollars for him?

She knew he was what he had said—a desperate man.

Oh, if she had but dared creep into the library, throw herself at Eugene Mallard's feet, and tell him all, what woe would have been spared her. But, alas! she dared not.

Heaven help her! How could she leave Eugene Mallard, whom she loved better than life.

She crept up to her room, and during the long hours of the night she fought the fiercest battle that woman ever fought with herself. If she gave Royal Ainsley the money he had asked for, he would certainly go away and never cross her path again.

Her heart leaped at the thought. The thought that[202] she was still bound to Royal Ainsley brought with it the most poignant grief—a feeling of horror.

She did realize what it meant to live there beneath that roof, even after she had found out the truth—that she was not Eugene Mallard's wife.

What harm was there in living in the home of the man she loved, seeing that they were so far apart in heart as well as in purpose?

"No, I can not tear myself away from the only one I have ever loved!" she cried. "If I were living here with Eugene Mallard as his wife............