"But would not the fact of your becoming Princess d'Auzac place you in a position of independence such as thousands of women would envy?" he hazarded, again stroking her silky hair with tenderness. "You know Zertho well. He's a good fellow and would make you an excellent husband, no doubt." "I can never marry him," she answered, decisively. "You will refuse his offer?" he observed, hoarsely. Her firmness was causing him some anxiety. "I have already refused," she replied. Slowly he grasped her hand, and after a brief pause looked her steadily in the face, saying-- "Liane, you must become his wife." "I love but one man, dad, and cannot love another," she sobbed passionately, her arms still about his neck. "Forget him." She remained silent a few moments; then, at last looking up with calm, inquiring gaze, asked-- "Why are you so earnestly persuading me to marry this man who is neither your true friend nor mine, dad? What object can you have in urging me to do what can only bring me grief and dire unhappiness?" He made no reply. His face, she noticed, had grown hard and cold; he was entirely unlike himself. "I love George," she went on. "I will only marry him." "Surely you will not ruin all your future, and mine, for his sake," he blurted forth at last. "Your future!" she gasped, drawing away from him and regarding him with sudden surprise as the truth dawned upon her. "I see it all now! With me as Princess d'Auzac, the wife of a wealthy man, you would never want." His teeth were set. He held her small, soft hand so tightly that it hurt her. He tried to speak, but his lips refused to utter sound. He was persuading his daughter to wreck her young life in order to secure his own safety. The thought was revolting, yet he was forced to act thus: to stand calmly by and witness her self-sacrifice, or bear the consequences of exposure. He bowed his head in agony of mind. A lump rose in his throat, so that his words were again stifled. "My marriage would, I know, relieve you of a serious responsibility," she went on, calmly, without any trace of reproach. "I am not unmindful of the fact that if I married Zertho I should gain wealth and position; yet I do not love him. I--I hate him." "He has been kind to us, and I believe he is extremely fond of you," he said, wincing beneath the lie that fear alone forced to his lips. "Is it not but natural that I should seek for you an improved social position and such wealth as will place you beyond all anxiety in future? Heaven knows that the past has been full enough of care and poverty."