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et eS Be thee tM
iS Spy teee
SE plea LL SUR Rake dn per Sen ho abt AMD NS Be Laake ek SS eke ke
' WILD MARGARET, 259
He smiled.
‘*T ean claim.to be a man who has devoted all his talents,
and all his energies, to the attainment of one object. You
call me names! Bah! my dear: Violet, have you forgotten
that evening in Park Lane, when I told you she was dead,
and you thought I had murdered her? You did not call
me rude names then, I think!”
She shuddered, and hid her face in her hands. When
she lifted it, it was as drawn asifshe had risen from along
and wasting illness.
“Tt is true!’ ‘It is true!’ she moaned, hoarsely;
‘‘and now you want me to—’’ She could not go on, but
her lips moved.
‘*T want you to keep your promise, that is all, my dear
Violet,’’ he said, coolly.
‘* And if I refuse!”
“You will not refuse,” he said, quietly. ‘‘ You dare
not! If you are not ready to accompany me at five
o’clock I shall go to Blair, and tell him all that I have
told you.”’
‘*Come, Violet; you must know that it is of little avail
to oppose me, much less to argue. Face the inevitable.
You used to be a brave woman once, summon up some
courage now. Consider, after all, what can you do better
' than fly with me? In an-hour or two, at any moment, as
I say, Blair and the countess will meet, the truth will be
known, and you—what will you be? Nothing—worse than
nothing! The law cannot give you redress, tor Blair be-
lieved her dead; but none the less you will be—an out-
cast!’
She writhed and tore at the pillows in a frenzy of despair.
‘Oh, please!’? he murmured, reproachfully. ‘‘Is this
thesame woman who bade me separate Blair and Margaret
Hale at any cost?—at any cost? Come, pluck up a little
spirit. What must be, must be; and it is certain that you
will have to yield to me.”
‘* He can but kill me!’’ she moaned, desperately.
Austin Ambrose laughed.
‘“‘Nonsense! Blair will do nothing of the kind. He will
simply repudiate you, and with many apologies, show you
the door. But really it would be more merciful to kill you
outright, than to leave you the butt of the whole of Lon-
don! The great heiress, Violet Graham, wrongfully mar-
ried to Blair Leyton, and discarded for his first and lawful
wife!’ and he laughed.
She put up her hand to silence him; and, his mood
changing, he caught the hand and fell on his knees at her
side.