"I was willing to lose my life, Vane," she continued, "but I could not bear that all the world should brand me as a thief--I could not bear that a Darrell should be reckoned among the lowest of criminals. I vow to you it was no coward fear for my life, no weak dread of death that forced the oath from my lips, but it was a shrinking from being found dead there with Sir Oswald's money in my hand--a shrinking from the thought that they would come to look upon my face and say to each other, 'Who would have thought, with all her pride, that she was a thief?' It was that word 'thief,' burning my brain, that conquered. "'You have one minute more,' said the hissing whisper, 'and then, unless you take the oath----' "'I will take it,' I replied; 'I do so, not to save my life, but my fair name.' "'It is well for you,' he returned; and then he forced me to kneel, while he dictated to me the words of an oath so binding and so fast that I dared not break it. "Shuddering, sick at heart, wishing I had risked all and cried out for help, I repeated it, and then he laid the revolver down. "'You will not break that oath,' he said. 'The Darrells invariably keep their word.' "Then, coolly as though I had not been present, he put the bank-notes into his pocket, and turned to me with a sneer. "'You will wonder how I managed this,' he said. 'I am a clever man, although you may not believe it. I drugged Sir Oswald's wine, and while he slept soundly I took the keys from under his pillow. I will put them back again. You seem so horrified that you had better accompany me and see that I do no harm to the old man.' "He put away the box and extinguished the light. As we stood together in the dense gloom, I felt his breath hot upon my face. "'There is no curse a man can invoke upon the woman who has ruined him,' he said, 'that I do not give to you; but, remember, I do not glory in my crime--I am ashamed of it.' "In the darkness I groped my way to the door, and opened it; in the darkness we passed through the hall where the armor used by warriors of old hung, and in the darkness we went up the broad staircase. I stood at the door of Sir Oswald's room while Captain Langton replaced the keys, and then, without a word, I went to my own chamber. "Vane, I can never tell you of the storm, the tempest of hate that raged within me. I could have killed myself for having taken the oath. I could have killed Captain Langton for having extorted it. But there was no help for it then. Do you think I did wrong in taking it?" "No, my darling," he replied, "I do not. Few girls would have been so brave. You are a heroine, Pauline."