"See here Drew, I do not often give my confidence. It does not often appear necessary, and I think nine times out of ten it complicates matters instead of solving mysteries, but I'm going to speak quite openly to you--for Joyce's sake. It would not make any difference to others--they think she deserves punishment for appearing to deserve it, but I believe you will be able to comprehend the difference and perhaps help me to help her. "Up to the night when she told me that she had seen you, and that your conversation had emphasized some doubts of her own--she had been to me, first a poor hounded creature, then, a striving, high-minded girl endeavouring to free herself from the bondage of evil that had been her inheritance. I'm not going to speak of myself in the matter, only so far as to say that my own life, under different environment, has been such--that I understood; I undertook the--task of helping her! Whatever of temptation cropped up now and then, was strangled for her sake always,--sometimes for my own, too--it died at last, and I was enabled to serve her with single purpose. "What that task has meant to me--I cannot expect any living soul to understand. I was very lonely. I never looked for reward nor recompense. It was--I thought it was--enough in itself. But something had been going on that was no part of my plan. Like a revelation it came to me, that last evening I spent at home--that she was a splendid woman; and I knew that I loved her! "That was why I went away. I went to find Jude Lauzoon. I meant to free her, and marry her. Her love has always been mine. This may make no difference--perhaps you cannot believe it--but it's God's truth, and now you see why I must have her." Drew had never shifted his gaze from the speaker's face. Conflicting emotions tore him--but there was no doubt in his heart, now, of Gaston. "In your profession, Drew," Gaston saw that he had gained his point, "you do not want to condone sin, but you want to understand the sinner as well as possible; and, Drew, you may take my word for it--I'm not in an overwhelming minority." For a moment Drew tried to speak and failed. Every expression of his true thought seemed inadequate and futile. Presently he stretched his hand across the little space that divided him from his companion. "Gaston," he said, "I thank you. It does make a difference. It makes--all the difference in the world." His thin, blue-veined hand fell upon Gaston's strong, brown one, which lay spread upon the chairarm. Gaston did not flinch under the touch. He did not seem to notice it. "Drew," he continued after a long pause, "it will help me--to find her, perhaps, if you tell me the little that you know. I am not going to let her slip if I have to hunt every inch of the woods for her. You must see that there is danger in every moment's delay. "Can you tell me if any one has seen her and talked with her who might influence her from an--outside point of view?"