Silently, and as if by one accord, they paused under the chandelier, and each gazed into the face of the other. His eyes met hers, stern, accusing, and darkened with pain; while she--her bearing was proud as his, her face mournful, her eyes resolute, her lips set in firm lines. She looked neither criminal nor penitent; she was a woman driven to bay, and she would fight rather than flee. Looking him full in the face, she made no effort to break the silence. Seeing which, Alan Warburton said: "Madam, you play your part well. You are not now the nocturnal wanderer menaced by a danger--" "From which you rescued me," she interrupts, her face softening. "Alan, it was a brave deed, and I thank you a thousand times!" "I do not desire your gratitude, Madam. I could have done no less, and would do yet more to save from disgrace the name we bear in common. Was your absence noted? Did you return safely and secretly?" "I have not been missed, and I returned as safely and as secretly as I went." Her voice was calm, her countenance had hardened as at first. "Madam, let us understand each other. One year ago the name of Warburton had never known a stain; now--" He let the wrath in his eyes, the scorn in his face, finish what his lips left unsaid. But the eyes of his beautiful opponent flashed him back scorn for scorn. "Now," she said, with calm contempt in her voice, "now, the proudest man of the Warburton race has stepped down from his pedestal to play the spy, and upon a woman! I thank you for rescuing me, Alan Warburton, but I have no thanks to offer for _that_!" "A spy!" He winced as his lips framed the word. "We are calling hard names, Mrs. Warburton. If I was a spy in that house, _what_ were you! I _have_ been a spy upon your actions, and I have seen that which has caused me to blush for my brother's wife, and tremble for my brother's honor. More than once I have seen you leave this house, and return to it, clandestinely. It was one of these secret expeditions, which I discovered by the merest chance, that aroused my watchfulness. More than once have letters passed to and fro through some disreputable-looking messenger. To-night, for the first time, I discovered _where_ you paid your visits, but not to _whom_. To-night I traced you to the vilest den in all the city. Madam, this mystery must be cleared up. What wretched secret have you brought into my brother's house? What sin or shame are you hiding under his name? What is this disgrace that is likely to burst upon us at any moment?" Slowly she moved toward him, looking straight into his angry, scornful face. Slowly she answered: