"It won't do!" he declared. "Stephanie has nothing to lose and everything to gain by my prosecuting him. The tale is going--what Dolittle knows will be public property in a day. The way to meet it is to have Porshinger arrested at once. Show that Stephanie is not afraid to face the issue. If she remain quiet under the story she tacitly admits its truth." "But my dear Lorraine,"--Pendleton began. "I'm not to be deterred, Montague--I didn't protect my wife from Amherst, but I will protect her this time." He arose. "You'll hear of Porshinger's arrest before night.--It will take him a little by surprise, I imagine," he flung over his shoulder as he strode away. Pendleton sprang up and overtook him. "Look here, Lorraine!" he said, curtly. "Don't be a fool--you think that Porshinger will bear the brunt of this, but you're grievously in error--it will be Stephanie who catches all the recoil. Be sensible," he urged, his hands itching to shake Lorraine. "Think of the defence that Porshinger will make if he is disposed to fight--and if you _arrest_ him he is sure to fight--that is the cad in him." "What will he say?" Lorraine demanded. "That what he did was with Stephanie's permission." Lorraine laughed shortly. "Just so--and a jury won't hesitate long when it's a question of veracity between a pretty woman and a mere man. Silence might be the wiser course, _if no one knew_, but that is not the case--everyone knows it now, or will by night. You know Dolittle quite as well as I--don't _you_ believe Stephanie?" he suddenly demanded. "Of course I believe her," Pendleton answered impatiently. "She told me about Porshinger's conduct just before you came up, and we were discussing what to do----" "But you didn't know that it had been overseen?" Lorraine interrupted. "No--we----" "Exactly!--And Dolittle's story puts another aspect on it. We've got to fight, and fight at once." He signalled his motor with his stick, and it rolled up to the doorway. "I'll telephone you as soon as the warrant is issued," he said, and flashed away. Pendleton looked thoughtfully after the receding car, then he came slowly back to his place. "I don't know that the fool isn't right," he muttered.--"But why the devil didn't he act as promptly in the Amherst affair?... I couldn't stop him," he said, in answer to Stephanie's inquiring look. "He has gone to have Porshinger arrested." "It doesn't much signify!" Stephanie shrugged. "Since Billy Dolittle saw it, the tale will be spread broadcast. He doesn't like me, you know, so that will be an additional animus--and Harry's stick didn't make him feel any the more lenient!" She laughed shortly. "I think I should like to have seen those thrusts--they're about all the satisfaction I can get out of the miserable affair. However, I'm pretty well hardened by this time--one more nasty story won't matter." "And it all comes back to me," said Gladys.--"If I had not invited Porshinger to Criss-Cross, this wouldn't have happened."