For a moment the relief of his going was such that the intention that lay behind it did not so much as occur to her. Then suddenly it flashed upon her. He was going in search of Guy. In an instant her passivity was gone. The necessity for action drove her forward. With a cry she sprang to the door before him, and set herself against it. She could not let him go with that look of the murderer in his eyes. "Burke!" she gasped. "Burke! What--are you going to do?" His lips parted a little, and she saw his teeth. "You shall hear what I have done--afterwards," he said. "Let me pass!" But she barred his way. Her numbed senses were all awake now and quivering. The very fact of physical effort seemed to have restored to her the power to suffer. She stood before him, her bosom heaving with great sobs that brought no tears or relief of any sort to the anguish that tore her. "You--you can't pass," she said. "Not--not--like this! Burke, listen! I swear to you--I swear----" "You needn't," he broke in. "A woman's oath, when it is her last resource, is quite valueless. I will deal with you afterwards. Let me pass!" The command was curt as a blow. But still she withstood him, striving to still her agitation, striving with all her desperate courage to face him and endure. "I will not!" she said, and with the words she stood up to her full, slim height, thwarting him, making her last stand. His expression changed as he realized her defiance. She was panting still, but there was no sign of yielding in her attitude. She was girt for resistance to the utmost. There fell an awful pause--a silence which only her rapid breathing disturbed. Her eyes were fixed on his. She must have seen the change, but she dared it unflinching. There was no turning back for her now. The man spoke at last, and his voice was absolutely quiet, dead level. "You had better let me go," he said. She made a sharp movement, for there was that in the steel-cold voice that sent terror to her heart. Was this Burke--the man upon whose goodness she had leaned ever since she had come to this land of strangers? Surely she had never met him before that moment! "Open that door!" he said. A great tremor went through her. She turned, the instinct to obey urging her. But in the same instant the thought of Guy--Guy in mortal danger--flashed across her. She paused for a second, making a supreme effort, while every impulse fought in mad tumult within her, crying to her to yield. Then, with a lightning twist of the hand she turned the key and pulled it from the lock. For an instant she held it in her hand, then with a half-strangled sound she thrust it deep into her bosom. Her eyes shone like flames in her white face as she turned back to him. "Perhaps you will believe me--now!" she said. He took a single step forward and caught, her by the wrists. "Woman!" he said. "Do you know what you are doing?"