Kathleen gave a little gasp of astonishment, for, with all her suspicions, she had not been prepared for such a complete and instant dropping of his mask of amiability. In a dim fashion she began to realize her danger, yet there could be no harm; outside was the chauffeur, he stood for something of established order. She made another attempt. “I must insist, Mr. Spedding, upon your finishing your examination of that book elsewhere. I do not know whether you are aware that you are occupying the only chair in the room,” she added indignantly. “I am very well aware,” said the lawyer calmly, without raising his eyes. “Mr. Spedding!” He looked up with an air of weariness. “May I ask you to remain quiet until I have finished,” he said, with an emphasis that she could not mistake, “and lest you have any lingering doubt that my present research is rather on my own account than on yours, I might add that if you annoy me by whining or fuming, or by any such nonsensical tricks, I have that with me which will quiet you,” and he resumed his reading. Cold and white, the girl stood in silence, her heart beating wildly, her mind occupied with schemes of escape. After a while the lawyer looked up and tapped the book with his forefinger. “Your precious secret is a secret no longer,” he said with a hard laugh. Kathleen made no answer. “If I hadn’t been a fool, I should have seen through it before,” he added, then he looked at the girl in meditation. “I have two propositions before me,” he said, “and I want your help.” “You will have no help from me, Mr. Spedding,” she replied coldly. “To-morrow you will be asked to explain your extraordinary conduct.” He laughed. “To-morrow, by whom? By Angel or the young swell-mobsman who’s half in love with you?” He laughed again as he saw the color rising to the girl’s cheeks. “Ah! I’ve hit the mark, have I?” She received his speech in contemptuous silence. “To-morrow I shall be away--well away, I trust, from the reach of either of the gentlemen you mention. I am not concerned with to-morrow as much as to-day.” She remembered that they were within an hour of daybreak. “To-day is a most fateful day for me--and for you.” He emphasized the last words. She preserved an icy silence.