"Not a bit of it," returned Nanna, sitting bolt upright and staring hard at the ceiling. "I only want you to be sure and let me know before you go. Or couldn't you take me with you?" she added, wistfully, as though the idea had but just occurred to her. "Why, Nanna, as though I could have dreamed of anything else! Go without you! Don't you see yourself how ridiculous that would be?" "Then nothing else matters," said Nanna, comfortably, and openly wiped her eyes. "When do you want to go--to-night?" "Foolish one! But then you love me, and I can forgive you. Now let me be quiet; I want to think out my--our plan." Nanna left the room softly. Esmay sat looking into the fire, her small, firm chin propped in her palm. So violent was the storm that she did not hear the opening and closing of the street-door, but the flickering of the lamp in the swirl of a current from the outer air warned her that she had a visitor. She recognized him instantly as he came forward, his laced hat in the hollow of his arm. There was no one in Doom besides Master Quinton Edge who bowed with so easy a grace--a woman has a quick eye for such trifles. "You are Esmay, daughter of Mad Scarlett," he began, gently. "My intrusion is unseasonable, perhaps, but none the less unavoidable." The girl made no answer. "I will speak to the point," he went on. "Are you ready to make choice, to-night, between young Ulick and his oafish cousin Boris? I have a reason for asking, believe me." Esmay flushed with annoyance. "I will not listen to either of them," she said. "Boris I detest, and Ulick is only a boy, and a silly one; I have told him so a score of times." "I thought as much, but I wanted the confirmation of your own lips, my dear child. The knowledge emboldens me to offer you an asylum under my own roof for the next few months--or longer. Ulick, as you say, is but a boy, half hot, half muddle-head. He, perhaps, could be kept in check----" "I can manage that sufficiently well," broke in the girl, haughtily. "No doubt, no doubt; but with Boris also in the field the situation becomes a complicated one. Accordingly, I have concluded to offer you my assistance in dealing with it." "It is difficult to think of Master Quinton Edge in the light of a disinterested adviser. Perhaps you have other motives." "Possibly," returned the man, with calm assurance. "Why not a dozen of them? But to disclose them--this is not the time. You have only to accept my offer and be thankful." "Suppose that I refuse?" Quinton Edge glanced over his shoulder, and the three men who had been standing motionless in the shadow of the doorway took a step forward. "You perceive that there is no such alternative," he said, suavely. The girl started but kept herself in hand. "My sister goes with me?" "No," said Quinton Edge. But Nanna's arms were already encircling her treasure. She had entered unobserved, and she had heard enough to understand. "You!" she said, and spat at Quinton Edge.