"No-o. I don't want to send you out of my life. But----" "There's only one way in which you can keep me and I can keep you--circumstanced as we are. We must be husband and wife." "Oh!" The girl covered her face with both hands. The world was on fire around her. "I frighten you. Yet you might have consented to marry that other Smith. You went to meet him, to decide whether he was possible." "I know. But I see now, if he'd kept his appointment, it would have ended in nothing, even if--if he had been pleased with me. I couldn't have brought myself to say 'yes'." "How can you be certain?" "Because"--Annesley spoke almost in a whisper--"because he wasn't _you_." Smith snatched her clasped hands and kissed them. The warm touch of the man's lips gave the girl a new, mysterious sensation. No man had ever kissed even her hands. Suddenly she felt sure that what she felt must be love--love at first sight, which, according to him, was an electric call from soul to soul. His kiss told her that they belonged to each other for good or evil. "Darling!" he said. "You are mine. I sha'n't let you go. For love of you I'll free myself from this temporary trouble I'm in, and come back to claim you soon. When I ask you to be my wife you'll say to me what you _wouldn't_ have said to the other Smith?" "If I can escape to hear you. But--you don't know Mrs. Ellsworth." "St. George rescued the princess from the dragon: so will I, though I've warned you I'm no saint. When we meet again I'll tell you what I am, and perhaps my real name, which is better than Smith, though it mayn't be as safe. Now, there are other things to say----" But there was no time to say them, for the taxi stopped. The time seemed so short since the Savoy that Annesley couldn't believe they were in Torrington Square. Perhaps the chauffeur had made a mistake? She looked out, hoping that it might be so; but before her were the darkened windows of the dull, familiar house, 22-A. The great moment was upon them. CHAPTER V THE SECOND LATCHKEY Without another word Smith opened the door and sprang out. As Annesley put her hand into his to descend she gave him the latchkey. It had been inside the neck of her dress, and the metal was warm from the warmth of her heart. "Take this," she whispered. "If _they_ are watching, it will be best for you to have the key." Mr. Smith bestowed a generous tip on the driver, and was rewarded with a loud, cheerful "Thank you, sir!" which must have reached the ears of a chauffeur in the act of stopping before a house near by. Annesley, glancing sidewise at the other taxi, thought that it drew up with suspicious suddenness, as if it had awaited a "cue."