Mario, who had moved to Hera’s side, touched her arm. “Let us go,” he said, and as they drew away La Ferita filled the air with new imprecations against Tarsis. The doctor and the nurses tried to calm her, but without avail. “My day will come!” were the last words of hers that Hera caught as she passed from the room. “He shall pay. He killed her. He shall pay!” CHAPTER XIV AN HOUR OF RECKONING TWO days afterward, when Hera and Tarsis were dining alone, he asked her about the work she had begun among the poor of the Ticinese quarter, and she told him that she had subscribed 150,000 liras to a fund to build a settlement there after the London plan, and that she had been chosen an officer of the Society of Help, and intended to take an active part in its service. “By the way,” he remarked, affecting a manner of light concern, “I have decided to withdraw my offer of funds for your charitable enterprises.” “Have you changed your opinion of the work?” “No; but I’ve changed my opinion of you,” he answered, and she saw his cold smile at play. “Perhaps it is as well you should know,” he added, “that my eyes have been opened.” In his mind the tale that Ulrich had carried about the meeting with Mario at the hospital, he regarded her narrowly, studying the effect of his words; she was aware of a note of challenge in them; their meaning puzzled her, and she broke the rule of silence she had observed hitherto toward his displays of malevolence. “Your eyes have been opened?” she said. “May I ask what you have seen?” “I--have--seen--your--subterfuge!” he responded, leaning forward and striking the table with the tip of his forefinger. “Subterfuge?” “Yes; and let me tell you that it is not worth while to continue the masquerade of charity. I am aware of your secret designs.” “I do not understand you.” “My belief is that you do,” he returned, speaking fast and vehemently, “though you may make yourself believe that you do not, just as you delude yourself with the idea that you are exceptionally noble to wrong me, your husband, that you may be faithful to another man.”