"Yes, it is I," she said, answering that mute, wondering look. "I am here, escaped from the wreck of my prison to find you--you dastardly thief--trying to steal my jewels, your own gift to me! You shall suffer for this night's work! Villain! you tempted me to aid you in your crimes, then left me to suffer the penalty alone. But I will betray you, and you shall know how it feels to be shut within prison walls, deserted by the one who swore fealty forever in happier days!" He had been so disgusted, so enraged, that he was about to retort in angry, sneering words that would drive her forever from him; but at her threatening words his defiant mood changed to one of cringing, abject fear. Though inwardly shrinking from her altered looks in keen disgust, he dared not show his feelings. He must temporize; he must turn her from her savage purpose. He approached her; he held out his hand. "Ta, ta, Dolly; we are not going to part in this fashion, are we? Surely you did not mind if I sold the diamonds to get you out of prison. It was a big bribe, I know; but the guard would not listen to a penny less. To-morrow you should have been free; but how lucky that you escaped, and we have the jewels still!" He slipped his arm around her, and--in spite of her anger, in spite of her suspicions of his falsity--the woman's head dropped against his breast. She loved him with all the heart she had, this petted darling of the foot-lights; she who had trifled with the hearts of nobler men had found in this weak nature her ideal, and he led her on to lower and lower depths until she was wrecked on the shoals of sin. Nestling in the arms that were so reluctant to hold her, Fedora told the man how she had escaped from her prison in the company of an aged prisoner--a convict under a life-sentence for murder. "You have often told me that your father was dead, Ivan," she said. "Did you believe it, or was it a falsehood?" "I--I--believed it," he replied, weakly. "No, you did not," she replied, triumphantly. "Ah, my lord, how proud you have been of your connection with the Carews! Yet your father is an escaped convict under sentence for life! Have you forgotten his name? Let me refresh your memory. George Harrison--alias Dutch Fred. Ah, you start--you remember! Yes, he told me his whole history, and I gave him the address of your mother--once his wife. He will go to her, he said, and demand half her fortune!" Ivan Belmont was silent a moment from chagrin. Then he rose superior to the situation. "Ha! ha! how the _mater_ will rave!" he laughed. "I wish papa success in plucking the madame. The devil knows what a time I had coaxing and wheedling pennies out of her pocket." The vision rising in his mind of this proud mother and sister's consternation roused his risibilities, and he laughed loud and long. They had discarded him--flung him off like a dog. What a glorious retribution!