"No!" she panted. "I won't stay if you want me only in that way--because you have a kind of love for me, whether you believe in me or not. I love you too much to be shamed by you! Either you trust me, or you don't. Say which it is, and I'll stay, or go." "I've got to trust you! I do!" The words seemed to burst from him. "You know I love you more than all the world. It would kill me to lose you." "I'd rather die from the shock of losing you, Roger, than from such a hateful pain, going on and on----" "It shan't go on," he said. "I've been happy, too. I'm a changed man since the hour I saw you and loved you. It's only to-day I've been wretched. Forgive me, Bev--and God forgive you if----" "There's an 'if' for you?" "No--no, there's no 'if' any more. You're to forgive me----that's all!" "Oh, I do! The hard thing would be not to forgive. But--can we go on being happy again, just as if nothing had happened?" "Of course we can, silly child. Nothing has happened." Roger had her in his arms now. He kissed her over and over again, till she gasped for breath. "This has only cleared the air. As for that beastly child, I don't care if she's a murderess. Keep her forever, if you choose. Train her as your maid----" "But she's not 'beastly!' And she's not the kind to have for a maid. I think she's a lady. She seems----" "Well, do whatever you like with her. Can I go further, to show you I want to atone?" "No, you can't, Roger----" Beverley nestled her face into his neck. "I adore you!" She closed her eyes, but opening them she happened, looking over Roger's shoulder, to see John Heron's letter on her husband's desk. A faint shiver ran through her body, and Roger felt it. "What's the matter, my darling?" he asked. "Nothing!" she answered. "A mouse ran over my grave." V ON THE WAY TO THE CAR Beverley found that she could "be happy again, as if nothing had happened" between her and Roger. For one thing, it was wonderful to feel that she had the power to "save" a fellow-being, and wonderful to be worshipped as Clo worshipped her. Of course, Roger "worshipped" her, too, but it was Beverley who looked up to him. Clo looked up to her. When Beverley went into the room presided over by Sister Lake, the child's great black eyes dwelt upon her as the eyes of a devotee upon the form of a goddess "come alive." Roger Sands' wife felt simply that she was repaying God for saving her, by what she was able to do for this Irish girl.