"Well, she'll feel easier in her mind if she knows I'm gone for good, then. Maybe you'd better tell her I'm dead." He said it as calmly as if he were announcing the time of day, but he was none the less earnest. "There is one alternative, Tom," she said, at last coming to the plan she had had in mind from the beginning. "You're not thinking of--of taking me back," he said, aghast at the very thought of it. "No. I'm going to make an offer that will give you greater satisfaction than that. Will you go away from New York forever, if I pay over to you every cent that I received for my share in Van Slye's--" "No!" he almost shouted. "You can't _buy_ me off. I was willing to do the right thing a minute ago. Now, you've gone and spoiled it all." He clapped his hands to his eyes; his big frame shook with rage. She went quickly to him. "Now, I _know_ you are a man--a big man, Tom. I am prouder of you now than I ever was in all my life." He looked bewildered. "You mean, you did that to _try_ me?" "To try myself," was her enigmatic response, "Well?" She stood back and looked at him intently. "I still have your promise. You _will_ do it to-night?" He stared at her as if he could not believe his ears, but he said resolutely: "Of course, I will." CHAPTER VIII COLONEL GRAND AND THE CRONKS She walked away from him and sat down in one of the big chairs, as if her limbs suddenly had lost the power to support her. He pulled his crumpled hat from his pocket and fumbled it for a few moments. She sat there, looking at him, her lips parted. "Well," he began, "I guess I'd better be going." "Going? Where are you going?" she demanded, suddenly alert. "Oh, out somewhere. I've got ten or twelve hours to kill." She struggled to her feet. "Tom, you are not going to leave this house until to-night." He drew back, amazed. "What?" "I am going down to the river with you." Comprehension was slow in filtering into his brain. A ghastly pallor spread over his face. "What did you say?" "I am going to the river with you. But you must stay here until to-night. You are not to go out into the streets. Do you understand?" "You can't mean that--Why, you must be crazy. You? Why--why, I'm doing it so that you can _live_. You can't mean what you're thinking of--" He could not complete the sentence. A heavy sweat broke out on his forehead. She forced a miserable smile to her lips. "You do not understand me, Tom. I am going down to the river with you, but I am coming back alone." He slowly grasped the meaning of it. "You--you're going down to see that I do make an end of it?" he cried. "I want to be sure, for Christine's sake," she said, quite steadily.