"Yes--a secret. Were this secret known my wife's heart would be broken, and this honorable house of which I am the last descendant would go to complete shipwreck. I don't talk of myself in the matter." "Do you mean to confide in me?" asked the doctor, after a pause. "I cannot; for the simple reason, that if I told you everything you would be bound as a man and a gentleman to take steps to insure the downfall which I dread." "Are you certain that you are not suffering from delusion?" "No, doctor, I wish I were." "You certainly look sane enough," said the doctor, examining his patient with one of his penetrating glances. "You must allow me to congratulate you. If I had not seen you with my own eyes I could never have believed in such a reformation. You are bronzed; your frame has widened; you have not a scrap of superfluous flesh about you. Let me feel your arm; my dear sir, your muscle is to be envied." "I was famed for my athletic power long ago," said Awdrey, with a grim smile. "But now, doctor, to facts. You have come here; it is possible for me to take you into my confidence to a certain extent. Will you allow me to state my case?" "As you intend only to state it partially it will be difficult for me to advise you," said the doctor. "Still, will you listen?" "I'll listen." "Well, the fact is this," said Awdrey, rising, "either God or the devil take possession of me to-night." "Come, come," said Rumsey, "you are exaggerating the state of the case." "I am not. I am going through the most desperate fight that ever assailed a man. I may get out on the side of good, but at the present moment I must state frankly that all my inclinations tend to getting out of this struggle on the side which will put me into the Devil's hands." "Come," said the doctor again, "if that is so there can be no doubt with regard to your position. You must close with right even though it is a struggle. You confess to possessing a secret; that secret is the cause of your misery; there is a right and a wrong to it?" "Undoubtedly; a very great right and a very grave wrong." "Then, Awdrey, do not hesitate; be man enough to do the right." Awdrey turned white. "You are the second person who has come here to-night and advised me on the side of God," he said. "Out with your trouble, man, and relieve your mind." "When I relieve my mind," said Awdrey, "my wife's heart will break, and our house will be ruined." "What about you?" "I shall go under." "I doubt very much if your doing right would ever break a heart like your wife's," said Rumsey, "but doing wrong would undoubtedly crush her spirit."