Faradeane unlocked the gate, took the lamp from the man, and signed to him to go in; then he turned to the woman and regarded her with a dead calmness. “Yes, you have found me,” he said, not defiantly, but in a still, steady voice. “What is it you mean to do--what is it you want?” Her black eyes flashed up at him, and her lithe, strong hands clinched at her side. “You talk as if I was nobody--nothing!” she said, hoarsely. “You are as nothing to me,” he responded, with no trace of scorn, but with something in his tone that cut her more deeply than any outspoken contempt. “Oh, I am, am I?” she retorted. “I’ll show you differently presently. Do you think I’m afraid of you? You’d like to kill me--you wish me dead--I know that! I can see it in your face. But I’m not dead, worse luck for you.” He turned his head slightly. Some one was passing in the lane. The footsteps stopped as if the passerby had heard the words and had paused to listen. Faradeane raised the lamp. “Good-night, Alford,” he said. Alford--for it was he--glanced from Faradeane to the dimly-seen figure of the woman with an air of surprise; then, touching his hat, returned the “good-night” with deep respect, and walked on. “Do you think I’m afraid of you?” she repeated. “You’re mistaken if you do! You’ve got more cause to fear me. You know the secret between us. Drive me too hard with your cursed coldness and I’ll shout it out here and now!” and she raised her clinched fist and shook it at him. He looked down at her in silence, with an impassive face, but with a strange expression in his eyes; a mixture of loathing and something like pity--the expression a man might wear who looks upon a wild, furious animal. The look seemed to madden her. “Why don’t you speak?” she demanded. “Are you going to keep me standing out here any longer. Do you know how long I have been kept waiting by that brute of yours?” “Say what you have to say here,” he said, quietly. “And suppose I refuse? Suppose I use the power I’ve got over you and insist upon going in? I’ve got my rights.” “No,” he said; “you forfeited them long ago. Why have you come here? What benefit can you gain by tracking me down?” “Tracked you down! Yes, you’re right. That’s just what I have done!” she retorted, with a laugh of triumph. “And now I’ve found you, I don’t mean to leave you! You can’t force me to, either.” “No,” he said, as quietly as before, with an accent of weariness, “you are quite right; I cannot force you to leave me, but I can leave you. You demand, by the right of the secret between us, to enter that cottage; do so if you will, but I shall never cross the threshold again. You know that.” “You--you hard devil!” she panted, with impotent fury.