"In ending an interview intolerably repugnant to my womanly instincts, permit me to say that, although conspicuously futile as regards the sole object of this visit to Mrs. Churchill, I shall avail myself of the unexpected opportunity to offer you an apology for the grievous wrong of which I was once guilty. Simple justice demands this admission, and in addition I frankly express my pleasure in finding that my judgment was wholly erroneous. I tender sincere congratulations that your vindication was so triumphant; and I bid your Excellency good-night." As she turned away he threw out a detaining hand. "Understanding fully what such gracious words cost you, I value them correspondingly, and hope my thanks will be as acceptable as your apology. Will you pardon me if I venture to ask, if you had known that Peyton Knox was the chaplain who dictated the prison telegram, would your sympathy for poor Clinton's family have sufficed to bring you into my presence?" "Certainly not." "You had regained sufficient faith in my integrity to believe that in matters involving conscientious scruples, I should prove callous even to Miss Lindsay's appeals?" The starry glint in his eyes brightened, and a bitter smile curled his lips. She met his gaze with cool, proud calmness. "The number of mangled offerings Governor Armitage has long laid before the pet fetich he labels 'Duty,' allows no margin for any one to doubt that the sacrificial axe needs no whetting for the next victim on the official scaffold. That I was predestined to defeat I knew as well before I came as now, but the sanctity of one's motive can sometimes nerve one to drain even a loathsome draught." Only a few feet of sward separated them, and while she stood apparently as devoid of emotion as the sun dial, he knew from the quivering of the diamonds in the cross, and the fiery flashes of the opals rising and falling at her throat that her heart throbbed fiercely. "Have you chanced to remember the day of the month, and that it is also the thirteenth annual anniversary?" "Yes, the thirteenth. Barring all superstition, which of course you scout, how could this disagreeable meeting have failed to be unlucky? It is true I have passed my springtime, but decrepitude has not yet attacked my memory, and it warns me now that I have unduly trespassed on your Excellency's time." She bowed, stooped to gather up the train of heliotrope chiffon, and moved in the direction of the house, but he stepped before her. "One moment, Miss Lindsay. May I ask why you refused to marry Hoyte Kingdon?" "Refused to marry him? Can you think it possible any sane woman could be so hopelessly fatuous as to decline an offer of his hand, of his exalted position? How incredible the suggestion that an opportunity of marriage so brilliant would not have been seized with avidity, by even the most ambitious of husband hunters!" "Hoyte told me of his persistent but unsuccessful effort to win your affection."