“You can talk. That’s easy. But you’ve never had a rope round your neck. You’ve never awakened in the night from a dream where they were taking you out to hang you. You’ve never been hounded till your nerves were ragged and you wanted to scream out.” “I don’t care to discuss all that. You had no business to come here. You made your choice to save yourself. That was your privilege, just as it is mine to prefer never to see you again.” His voice rose. “Why do you say that? I’m not a leper. I’m still Larry Silcott, your friend. Say I did wrong. Don’t you suppose I’ve paid? Don’t you suppose I’ve lived in hell ever since? Have I got to spend all the rest of my life an outcast?” She would not let herself sympathize with his wretchedness. He had betrayed the man she loved, had struck at his life. The harsh judgment of youth condemned him. “You should have thought of that before you sold out the men who trusted you,” she told him coldly. “I didn’t sell them out. I didn’t get a penny for it. I told the truth. That’s all,” he cried wildly. “You had forfeited the right to tell the truth. And you did sell them out. You wouldn’t be here to-night if you hadn’t.” Silcott shifted his defense. “I’m sick and tired of things to-night, Ruth. Let’s not quarrel,” he begged. “I’m not quarrelling. I don’t quarrel with any one except my friends, and I’m trying to make it clear that Mr. Lawrence Silcott is not one of them. You are not welcome here, sir. I ask you to leave.” “Do you chuck your friends overboard when they make one mistake? Don’t you ever give them a second chance?” he appealed. “Can’t you make any allowance for circumstances? I was sick all the time I was in jail. They took advantage of me. I never would have done it if I’d been _well_. You’ve got to believe me, Ruth.” “Maybe it’s true. I hope so.” In spite of herself she was touched by his misery. “You’ve got to forgive me, Ruth. I—oh, you don’t know what I’ve been through!” He broke down and brushed his hand across his eyes. “I haven’t slept for a week. It’s been hell every hour.” “You’d better go away somewhere,” she suggested. “Leave your affairs with an agent. You ought not to stay here.” “No. My nerves are all jumpy. I’ve got to get away.” He took a long breath and plunged on: “I’m going to begin all over again in Los Angeles or San Francisco. I’ve had my lesson. I’ll run straight from now on. I’m going to work hard and get ahead. If you’d only stand by me, Ruth. If you’d——” “I can’t be a friend of the man who betrayed my husband, if that’s what you mean.” “You’d have to choose between him and me. That’s true. Well, Rowan is in the penitentiary for life. You’re young. You can’t wait for ever. It wouldn’t be right you should. Besides, you and Rowan never did get along well. I’m not saying a word against him, but——” “You’d better not!” she flamed, the lace on her bosom rising and falling fast with her passionate anger. “You say he is in the penitentiary. Who put him there?”