On this occasion Leon showed nothing of that languor which he had previously affected. He appeared, on the contrary, uneasy, nervous, and impatient. So abstracted was he by his own thoughts that he did not notice her entrance. She sat down and waited for a little while, after which she said, quietly, “Did you wish to see me, Captain--a--Dudleigh?” Leon started, then frowned; then, after a little silence, he began abruptly: “You may deny it as much as you choose, but it's no use. You are actually married to me. You are really and truly my wife, both in the eyes of man and in the eyes of the law. From that marriage nothing can ever deliver you but a divorce.” “You are mistaken,” said Edith, quietly. “Even if that miserable performance should turn out to be a marriage--which is absurd--still there is one other thing that can free me.” “Ah?--and what may that be?” “Death!” said Edith, solemnly. Leon turned pale. “Is that a threat?” he asked at length, in a trembling voice. “Whose death do you mean?” Edith made no reply. “Yes,” said Leon, after a pause, going on with his former train of thought, “at any rate you are my wife, and you can not help it. You may deny it as much as you please, but that will not avail. In spite of this, however, I do not molest you, although I might so easily do it. I never trouble you with my presence. I am very forbearing. Few would do as I do. Yet I have rights, and some of them, at least, I am determined to assert. Now, on the whole, it is well for you--and you ought to see it--that you have one here who occupies the peculiar position toward you which I do. If it were not for me you would be altogether in the power of Wiggins. He is your guardian or your jailer, whichever you choose to call him. He could shut you up in the vaults of Dalton Hall if he chose--and he probably will do that very thing before long--for who is there to prevent him? I am the only one who can stand between you and him. I am your only hope. You do not know who and what this man is. You think you know him, but you don't. You think of him as a villain and a tyrant. Let me tell you that in your bitterest hate of that man you have never begun to conceive the fraction of his villainy. Let me tell you that he is one who passes your comprehension. Let me tell you that, however much you may hate me, if I were to tell you what Wiggins is, the feelings that you have toward me would be almost affection, compared to those which you would have toward him.” Leon paused. He had spoken most earnestly and vehemently; but upon Edith these words produced no effect. She believed that this was a last effort to work upon her feelings by exciting her fears of Wiggins. She did not believe him capable of speaking the truth to her, and thus his words produced no result. “If you had not been married to me when you were,” continued Leon, “I solemnly assure you that by this time you would have been where hope could never reach you.”