"I mean just what I say," he answered. "We've got to part." And then seeing the ghastly pallor that came over her, he drew her to him and went and sat down on the sofa. "Listen to me, Mary," he said more gently; "you're a good girl, and I have no fear to tell you the whole truth. I know that you have nothing to do with it; but I've gotten into serious trouble, and there is only one way in the world to save myself." "What do you mean, Jim?" she panted. (Jim was the name she had been taught to call him.) "Mary," said he, "you know that I'm a married man, don't you?" "Yes," she said, "but what--" "And that I'm a very rich man? Well, Mrs. Lynch has set to work to blackmail me." The girl shrunk back. "You--what!" she panted. "It's true," said he; "I've had to pay her several thousand dollars already." "Good heavens!" cried the girl. "It can't be so!" "It is," replied he. "And it means only one thing,--that we've got to part forever." XXVIII Mary Harrison was reeling like a drunken person; she clutched at a chair. "Jim," she gasped, "what's to become of me?" "You know that I'll always see that you are taken care of," he began. "I don't--I don't mean that," she cried. "But, oh--I love you--I can't do without you! Where in Heaven's name am I to go?" and she flung herself upon him with a passionate cry. "What am I to do?" she cried, again and again. "How can I bear it?" He strove to calm her. "Listen," he whispered, "don't take it so hard. Perhaps you may forget me--please don't act like that." She was shuddering convulsively. "No, no!" she cried. "It would kill me--it would!" And then suddenly she leapt to her feet, her eyes blazing. "I'll kill that woman!" she panted. "That's what I'll do!" The man drew her to him again, striving to calm her. "No, no, Mary," he said. "That will only make it worse for me. If you love me, you must give me up. That is the only way." She sat there, white and trembling, moaning to herself. She smoothed the beautiful hair back from her forehead, and sat staring in front of her with a dazed expression. "Give you up!" she whispered hoarsely. "Give you up!" Her companion felt extremely uncomfortable; naturally, a good-hearted man does not like to make a woman suffer, especially a woman whom he still loves. He had made up his mind, however, and he meant to carry it through. He let her lean on his bosom and sob away her grief. "And can't I ever see you--even just a little bit?" she moaned. "No," he said firmly. "Can you not see, Mary, that there is no place in the world where I could keep you that that woman could not track me to? She has found me out and tracked me here already and she could ruin me, Mary, drive me to kill myself." The other shuddered. "No," she said, "you must not do that. You are right, and I must make the sacrifice. I will go--I can bear it, I guess. But oh, Jim, I never really loved any one but you, and I never shall."