Stanley walked to the window, and in his easy way, as he would across a drawing-room to stand by a piano, and he looked out upon the trees, whose tops stood motionless against the darkened sky, like masses of ruins. Then he came back as gently as he had gone, and stood beside his sister; she could not see his yellow eyes now as he stood with his back to the window. 'Well, Radie, dear--you have put your hand to the plough, and you sha'n't turn back now.' 'What?' 'No--you sha'n't turn back now.' 'You seem, Sir, to fancy that I have no right to choose for myself,' said Miss Rachel, spiritedly. 'Now, Radie, you must be reasonable--who have I to advise with?' 'Not me, Stanley--keep your plots and your secrets to yourself. In the guilty path you have opened for me one step more I will never tread.' 'Excuse me, Radie, but you're talking like a fool.' 'I am not sorry you think so--you can't understand motives higher than your own.' 'You'll see that you must, though. You'll see it in a little while. Self-preservation, dear Radie, is the first law of nature.' 'For yourself, Stanley; and for _me_, self-sacrifice,' she retorted, bitterly. 'Well, Radie, I may as well tell you one thing that I'm resolved to carry out,' said Lake, with a dreamy serenity, looking on the dark carpet. 'I'll hear no secret, Stanley.' 'It can't be long a secret, at least from you--you can't help knowing it,' he drawled gently. 'Do you recollect, Radie, what I said that morning when I first called here, and saw you?' 'Perhaps I do, but I don't know what you mean,' answered she. 'I said, Mark Wylder----' 'Don't name him,' she said, rising and approaching him swiftly. 'I said _he_ should go abroad, and so he shall,' said Lake, in a very low tone, with a grim oath. 'Why do you talk that way? You terrify me,' said Rachel, with one hand raised toward his face with a gesture of horror and entreaty, and the other closed upon his wrist. 'I say he _shall_, Radie.' 'Has he lost his wits? I can't comprehend you--you frighten me, Stanley. You're talking wildly on purpose, I believe, to terrify me. You know the state I'm in--sleepless--half wild--all alone here. You're talking like a maniac. It's cruel--it's cowardly.' 'I mean to _do_ it--you'll see.' Suddenly she hurried by him, and in a moment was in the little kitchen, with its fire and candle burning cheerily. Stanley Lake was at her shoulder as she entered, and both were white with agitation. Old Tamar rose up affrighted, her stiff arms raised, and uttered a blessing. She did not know what to make of it. Rachel sat down upon one of the kitchen chairs, scarce knowing what she did, and Stanley Lake halted near the threshold--gazing for a moment as wildly as she, with the ghost of his sly smile on his smooth, cadaverous face. 'What ails her--is she ill, Master Stanley?' asked the old woman, returning with her white eyes the young man's strange yellow glare. 'I--I don't know--maybe--give her some water,' said Lake.