"I--I could not help myself. I was--oh, I was afraid," muttered Edermont, passing his hand over his eyes. "You have cause to be afraid--now," retorted Joad; and with a look of contempt at the shrinking figure of his friend he turned and left the room. Dora waited until his heavy footsteps died away, then she turned again to Edermont. "Why did Allen leave the house?" she asked with obstinate insistence. "That is my business." "And mine also. I have a right to know why you have driven away the man whom I am about to marry." Edermont burst into unpleasant mirth. "That's all over and done with, my dear," he said, staring at her. "Allen Scott will never marry you--now." "What have you told him?" she gasped, turning pale. "I have told him something which will keep him away from this house--something which will prevent him from ever seeing you again." "What do you mean, Mr. Edermont?" She had risen to her feet, and was standing over him with flushed face and indignant eyes. To force his speech she gripped the shoulder of the man until he winced with pain. "You have said something against me," she continued, giving him a slight shake. "I have been saying nothing against you. I am truly sorry for you, Dora." "Sorry for me, Mr. Edermont? Why?" "Because of your parents," said her guardian slowly. Dora stepped back. Since she had been brought by Edermont to the Red House, a year-old babe, he had never mentioned the name of her parents. All questions she had put to him had been put aside. That her father and mother were dead, that she inherited five hundred a year, and that Mr. Edermont was her guardian until she reached the age of twenty-one--these facts were known to her; beyond them, nothing. Now it would seem that some mystery was connected with the dead, and that Mr. Edermont was about to divulge it. "What did my parents do that you should be sorry for me?" she asked pointedly. "I shall never tell you what they did, Dora. I have hinted too much already. It is sufficient for you to know that they sinned, and that their sin will be visited on you." "How dare you speak to me like this!" cried Dora, clenching her hands; "what right have you to terrify me with vague hints? I demand an explanation!" "You will never obtain one--from me," said Edermont in a quavering voice; "and if you are wise you will seek one nowhere else." "I shall ask Allen." "He is bound by a promise to me not to tell you." "Then, I shall question Lady Burville." Edermont rose with a bound, and gripped her arm with a strength of which she had not thought him capable.