“Hush! Don’t say that awful word! You are not—and even if you were, I’ll prove you are not! Listen, Maida, if you’ll promise to marry me, I’ll find the real murderer—not you or your father, but the real murderer. I’ll get a signed confession—I’ll acquit you and your family of any implication in the deed, and I’ll produce the criminal himself. Now, will you say yes?” “You can’t do all that,” she said, speaking in an awestruck whisper, as if he had proposed to perform a miracle. “I can—I swear it!” “Then, if you can do that, you ought to do it, anyway! In the interests of right and justice, in common honesty and decency, you ought to tell what you know!” “Maida, I am a man and I am in love with you. That explains much. I will do all I have promised, to gain you as my bride—but not otherwise. As to right and justice—you’ve confessed the crime, haven’t you?” “Yes.” “Do you confess it to me, now? Do you say to me that you killed Samuel Appleby?” There was but a moment’s pause, and then Maida said, in a low tone: “Yes—I confess it to you, Mr. Keefe.” “Then, do you see what I mean when I say I will produce the—murderer? Do you see that I mean to save you from the consequences of your own rash act—and prove you, to the world at large, innocent?” Keefe looked straight into Maida’s eyes, and her own fell in confusion. “Can you do it?” she asked, tremulously. “When I say I will do a thing, I’ve already proved to my own satisfaction that I can do it. But, I’ll do it only at my own price. The price being you—you dear, delicious thing! Oh, Maida, you’ve no idea what it means to be loved as I love you! I’ll make you happy, my darling! I’ll make you forget all this horrible episode; I’ll give you a fairyland life. You shall be happier than you ever dreamed of.” “But—Jeffrey—oh, I can’t.” “Then—Miss Wheeler, you must take the consequences—all the consequences. Can you do that?” “No,” Maida said, after an interval of silence. “I can’t. I am forced to accept your offer, Mr. Keefe——” “You may not accept it with that address.” “Curtis, then. Curtis, I say, yes.” CHAPTER XVI MAIDA’S DECISION “Maida, it cannot be. I shall never let you marry Mr. Keefe when I know how you love Jeffrey.” Sara Wheeler spoke quietly, but her agonized face and tear-filled eyes told of her deep distress. Though not demonstrative, she loved her daughter, her only child, with an affection that was almost idolatry, and she had been glad of the idea of Maida’s marriage to Jeffrey, for she knew of his sterling worth, and she knew the depth and sincerity of their attachment. “Don’t say you won’t let me, mother,” Maida spoke in a dull, sad tone—a tone of calm despair. “It must be so. I’m not saying I love him—I’m not saying much about it all—but I tell you solemnly—it must be. And you must not raise a single word of objection—if you do, you will only make my hard lot harder.”