"All night long, before I came to undeceive you, and to warn Olive, I battled with a great temptation. And I yielded to it. Listen, Claire, while I tell you how base I was. "When I set out for the city in the morning, I said to myself: 'Claire Keith is the soul of truth and honor. She is generous to a fault. If I let her see how much I care for Clarence Vaughan, I shall appeal to her pity and her honor, without the aid of words. She will never listen to his suit; she will try to advance my interest; she will become my ally.' See, dear, how truly I judged you. "Well, I came. I told you of Percy's baseness, and when I saw how brave you were; how full of scorn for the dishonest man; how impossible it was for one so unworthy to drag you down, or darken your life because of his baseness; I was filled with shame and remorse. I knew then that I was unworthy your friendship, or of a good man's love. "Standing in your presence, humiliated by your pure nobility, I repented, and I resolved to give up all thought of Clarence Vaughan. I did give him up. "But, Claire, although I did not know it, my very penitence must have committed me, and while I was renouncing my designs, you were resolving to further them. In some manner I must have betrayed myself." There is a moment's pause. Claire Keith's face is buried in her hands, and Madeline, bending toward her, cries out, remorsefully: "Claire! Claire! Look up and believe me. As God hears me, that is past and dead. See how I am humbling myself, and do not doubt me." Claire's head rears itself suddenly. She flings herself forward impetuously, and clasps her arms about her friend. "Madeline, stop!" she cries, brokenly; "I won't hear you slander yourself. Don't I know you too well to doubt you! But I won't have a lover; I won't love any one but you." Again the laugh comes to Madeline's lips. "Little Miss Impulse!" she says, tenderly. "But, sister Claire, I am not done yet. I am going to put you on the penitent's stool now. Just imagine yourself in my place for a little. Do you think I could have made this confession to you if my weakness were not a thing of the past? You know I never could. I am not ashamed to confess that I did love Clarence. But I should be more than ashamed, under all the circumstances, if I could not say with truth that that love is a thing of the past. As my dearest friend, my brother, if you will, I shall always love him; but no more than that. I am not sorry that I have loved him, for I am a better woman because of it. But, I repeat it, that love is a thing of the past. Claire, do you not believe?" They gaze into each other's eyes for a moment. Then Claire says: "I believe, Madeline." A smile brightens the brown eyes now, and their owner says: "Then don't you see that you have made a mistake--one that, for my sake, you must rectify?" Claire begins to look rebellious. "No, I don't," she cries, blushing scarlet. "You wicked girl, you have been getting me into a trap!"