"What would that mean, Stafford?" she said. "You know you are deceiving me when you agree that my father----" again her voice shook--"no, no," she said, "it would ruin your career to have the daughter of a convict for your wife. I realise very well what it will mean, for I know--I know--I know!" "What do you know?" he asked in a low voice. "I know that all my work will be in vain. But I must go on with it. I must, or I shall go mad. I know nothing on earth can clear my father, but I'm not going to tell you that again. I just want to think there is a possibility that some miracle will happen, that all the evidence which even I have against him will be explained away." He took her unresisting hand in his, and under the cover of the tablecloth held it tight. "That is why I wanted to leave the service," he said, and she looked at him quickly. "Because you thought that it would mean ruin?" He smiled. "No, not that. It would hurt you, that is all. Of course, if such a thing happened I would be obliged to resign." "And you'd never forgive yourself." "I wanted to anticipate such a happening, and, darling, you've got to face the future without any other illusions." She winced at the word "other" but he went on, unnoticing: "Boundary is a tiger. If he thinks there is reason to fear you, he will never let up on you till he has you in his grip. I tell you this," he said earnestly, "that for all the power of the police, for all their organisation and the backing which the law gives them, they may be helpless against this man if he has marked you down for punishment." "I'm not afraid," she said quietly. "But I am," said he. "I'm so afraid, that I'm sick with apprehension sometimes." "Poor Stafford!" she said softly, and there was a look in her eyes which compensated him for much. "But you mustn't worry, dear. Truly, truly, you mustn't worry. I'm quite capable of looking after myself." "And that's the greatest of all your illusions," he said, half-laughingly and half-irritably. "You're just the meekest little mouse that ever came under the paw of a cat." She shook her head smilingly. "But I tell you I'm speaking seriously," he went on. "I'll do my best to look after you. I'll have a man watching you day and night." "But you mustn't," she protested. "There's no immediate cause for worry." He saw her to the door of the restaurant and showed her into the taxi-cab which came at his whistle, and she leant out of the window and waved her hand in farewell as she drove off. Two men stood on the opposite side of the road and watched her depart. "That's the girl," said Crewe. CHAPTER XIV THE TAKING OF MAISIE WHITE