There was that in her tone that would have made the blood of any man run cold with terror, but he managed a smile. “In my place you would run away?” he said. She shook her head. “No, I wouldn’t run away myself, but I advise you to. I shouldn’t be in any danger. Being a mere woman, I can be cruel, cold and selfish when the occasion demands. But this is a situation that requires all the qualities a man doesn’t possess.” “What do you mean?” “Does your heart become harder when a pretty woman cries? Is your conscience unmoved by the responsibility of some one else’s unhappiness? Can you be made love to without a haunting suspicion that you brought it on yourself?” “Good heavens, no!” cried Riatt from the heart. “Then, run while there’s time.” As the ox fears the gad-fly and the elephant the mouse, so does the bravest of men fear the emotional entanglement of any making but his own. For an instant Riatt felt himself swept by the frankest, wildest panic. Misadventures among the clouds he had had many times, and had looked a clean straight death in the face. He had never felt anything like the terror that for an instant possessed him. Then it passed and he said with conviction: “Well, after all, there are certain things you can’t be made to do against your will.” “Certainly. But you are not referring to marriage, are you?” “Yes, I was.” “My poor, dear man! As if half the marriages in the world were not made against the wish of one party or the other.” His heart sank. “It’s perfectly true,” he said. “And yet one does rather hate to run away.” “Not so much as one hates afterward to think one might have.” He laughed and she went on: “The moment is critical. Laura Ussher and Christine have been closeted together for the better part of two hours. Something is going to happen immediately. At any moment Laura may appear and say with that wonderfully casual manner of hers, ‘May I have a word with you, Max?’ And then you’ll be lost.” “Oh, not quite as bad as that, I hope,” said Riatt. “Lost,” she repeated, and leaning over she laid one polished finger tip on the bell. “When the man comes, tell him to get you ready for that early train.” There was complete silence between them until the footman appeared and Riatt had given the necessary orders. “I wonder,” he said when they were again alone, “whether I shall be angry at you for this advice, or grateful. It’s a dangerous thing, you know, to advise a man to run away.” “Dine with me in town on Wednesday, and you can tell me which it is.” “You don’t seem to be much afraid of my anger.” “I think perhaps your gratitude might be the more dangerous of the two.” While he was struggling between a new-found prudence, and a natural desire to inquire further into her meaning, a door upstairs was heard to shut, and presently Laura Ussher came sauntering into the room. “You’re up early, Nancy,” she said pleasantly.