She did, then wished she hadn't. Those cold and knowing eyes seemed to look straight through her. Hatred deserted her, leaving only fear. And in that moment she was sure it was not her father, but the Devil himself who stood before her. His wicked tongue was a foil far too clever for her innocence, and she knew it. She felt her innermost temples exposed, and had little doubt that he could ridicule and undo the most sacred feelings she possessed. "Aren't you going to ask me why I I don't believe? Are you afraid? I am going to tell you; and if only once in your fairy-tale existence you listen to the voice of reason, then let it be now." He spoke evenly at first, but it was clear that she had stirred the cauldron of his emotions. "I disbelieve for the simplest, and most undeniable reason of all. Experience . For forty years I have taken what I wanted, disobeying each Commandment, each precept, a thousand times over. And not only do I go unpunished. . .but I have thriven, and raised myself to great power. "I will tell you something I have never told anyone; you may take that any way you like. Listen! From earliest manhood I have fought against the principles, nay, the very heart of Christianity. In truth, a part of me longed for punishment and reversal: to be put in my place, as a sign there was some meaning, some Order in the world. But there is none, unless it be survival of the fittest. Hardly the kind of world that a God would make, unless his sole purpose was to punish its weak, pathetic creatures." He paused, trying unsuccessfully to calm himself. "The only `earth' that the meek shall inherit. . .are the indifferent shovelfuls the diggers throw back into their graves! "What have you to say of that , little whore of my flesh? Answer me!" She knew not where she found the words, nor the courage to speak them. She only knew that they were right. "The final reckoning has not yet come," she said quietly. "Your imagined victory will slip through your fingers like sand." He bolted from his chair and came at her, before either realized what had happened. Pinning her against the door, he mastered his wrath only long enough to cry out in a dreadful voice: "Be gone! Out of my sight!" Mary fled from the room in tears. He slammed the door after her, then struck it so violently that the oak shivered and his hand nearly broke. For she had committed the one act that no evil man can tolerate. She had spoken the truth. That evening Lieutenant Ballard appeared, to escort the ladies to, "More suitable quarters." He led them, along with two armed guards, to the high tower at the furthest extremity of the Castle. After a long and torturous spiralling of stairs (for their escort would not let them rest), they came at last to the uppermost story. There Ballard took a long iron key, and forcing the eye of the lock, pulled back the thick wooden door, pierced by a single, barred window.