"You dog! Oh, that men like you are allowed to live! You do things for a selfish reason, and then can never undo the harm you have done. Had you killed one or both of us, your act could have been no more brutal." "God bless us!" gasped Marks looking fairly frightened now. "It ain't as bad as that. I got you on a contract--that's all I wanted. What's the matter with him? Won't he marry you just the same? But you'll have to fulfil the terms of my contract." Then he laughed a sudden sneering laugh. "Or did somebody butt in on your game? I saw him walking off the dock with another queen." Miss Mont started. "You saw them together?" "Sure." "Saw the woman? What did she look like?" "I didn't see her face," Sam Marks said, puzzled at her vehemence. "I was only thinkin' just then of the contract in my pocket." "Oh, you beast!" she exclaimed in disgust. "Go away. I want to talk with Mr. Ryder." "Oh, very well! You can call names----" "Go!" she commanded. "Let the taxi wait." He slunk out of the dressing-room. It is doubtful if Ryder had realized his presence at all. "Come," Miss Mont said with her hand on the shoulder of the stunned man. "I want you to wait for me outside the door until I dress. Then you shall ride to my hotel with me. Let me help you to understand this--this thing." He looked at her in a dazed way; but finally he obeyed and went out of the room. He was in a maze and his intellect seemed beclouded. In ten minutes she rejoined him and led the way to the stage entrance where the car was in waiting. They entered it, she gave the chauffeur the direction, and the jouncing of the taxicab over the nearest car track aroused Ryder to the first audible speech he had made since the truth had sunk into his mind. "I--I cannot believe it, Miss Mont. Yet it must be so. How two women could look so much alike--act so much alike! Great heavens! She shall suffer for it----" The woman beside him turned quickly and placed a palm lightly upon his lips. So like was the gesture to Ruth's that Ryder caught his breath and sank back in the seat, wordless again. "Say nothing like that. Malign no person. Let us learn all the truth before we judge. Tell me--tell me about this other woman--this Ruth." "She--she has left me," he said sullenly. "Left you! How--when? No, no! Begin at the beginning. Tell me all. I will not hear a word against her--I must not!--until I know all the story." This aroused John Ryder. He looked at her curiously. "You are a strange woman," he said. "Do you realize that she impersonated you? That I married her thinking she was you? That--that--God help me! She stole from you my love, for I _do_ love her! I _do_ love her!" Miss Mont had taken his hand in both of hers. She sat and held it thus, looking straight ahead and saying no word for a long minute. Finally she whispered: