“Why, I don’t know,” said Heloise, her insolent gaze turned on the intruder. “It seems to me that a cook’s got a right to a li’l bit of love, honey? I’ll admit that Uncle Isaac ain’t so cute as darling Wopsy. But he’s a real nice boy in Aunt Lizzie’s eyes.” Gordon would have intervened, but his spirit was broken. He slunk into the scullery and dropped his aching head upon the knife-machine. CHAPTER XXIII For once Diana was silenced. It was absurd that she should attempt to justify herself to a woman of this character. Yet she did. “Mr. Dempsi is--is a very dear friend. To compare your--oh, it’s horrible!” She was sickened--the realisation of her own hypocrisy did not lessen the nausea. There was no comparison. Of the two men, Double Dan was the more appealing. No index of her mind went unread by the shrewd watcher. “I gotta stick by this anyhow. It’s no vacation for me,” said Heloise with a sigh. The effect was magical--the frown vanished from Diana’s face and a soft light came to her eyes. “I’m sorry for you sometimes,” she said. Heloise raised her left shoulder. “Why, I’m sorry most times. Gee! It’s a helluva life,” she said bitterly. Diana’s heart went out to the woman. Her loneliness, the atmosphere of tragedy which now enveloped her, called for tenderness and help. “I ought to have realised that,” she said gently. “I’m sorry I was sharp.” The great strategist is he who recognises the moment when his enemy is wavering. Heloise brought up her heavy guns. “I was a good woman before I met him,” she said with a little sob. Gordon, a horrified listener, came gasping into the kitchen. “You--you----!” “Silence!” Under the flashing eyes of Diana Ford his courage failed. Like the fisherman’s wife, he could only stand and watch and suffer. “He just naturally dragged me down.” Heloise was playing for safety and freedom, and she was a champion player. Diana’s voice quivered as she turned on the shrinking man. “You brute! To think that a man like you should be allowed to prey upon humanity! I suspected something like this! You are a human tiger, unfit to live--Why don’t you leave him, Heloise?” she asked tenderly. Heloise wiped her eyes and sniffed. “He’s got me--so.” She put down her thumb suggestively. “That kind of man doesn’t let up on a woman once she’s in his power. She’s his till doom.” Gordon shuffled his feet and she stepped back, fear in her face. “Don’t let him touch me!” she cried in terror. In another second Diana’s arm was about her. “Stand back,” she said sternly. “Does he--does he strike you?” Heloise nodded with just that show of reluctance that was so convincing. “I’m just black and blue sometimes,” she wept. “He’ll beat me for this, sure. Don’t trouble about me, Miss Ford--I’m naturally worthless. I must stand by Dan to the end of the chapter--heaven help me!”