From the first, he began to hope that he was succeeding. Nellie regarded him with a clear and steady glance from the start, and when he had finished, she remained gazing at him--no longer doubtful, but with something almost terror-stricken in her expression. In the pause that followed, Emmons turned to the lawyer. “Now, you are a clever man, Mr. Overton,” he said easily. “Perhaps you can explain to me, why it is that a fellow who is known to be a thief and a liar should be in such a hurry to write himself down a murderer as well?” The tone and manner of the interruption, coming at a moment of high emotion, were too much for Vickers’s temper. He turned on Emmons white with rage. “I’ve stood about as much as I mean to stand from you,” he said. “Overton and Nellie are welcome to believe me or not as they like, but you will either believe me or leave this house.” His tone was so menacing that Overton stood up, expecting trouble, but it was Nellie who spoke. “James will do nothing of the kind,” she said. “If you are not Bob Lee you have no right to say who shall stay in this house and who shall not. The house is mine, and I won’t have any one in it who can’t be civil to James.” “Then you certainly can’t have me,” said Vickers. “It seems not,” answered Nellie. They exchanged such a steel-like glance as only those who love each other can inflict, and then Vickers flung out of the house. When, a few minutes later, Overton caught up with him, his anger had not cooled. “Hush, hush, my dear fellow,” said the lawyer. “Hilltop is not accustomed to such language. Let a spirited lady have her heroics if she wants.” Chapter XI Left alone with her _fiancé_, perhaps Nellie expected a word of praise for her gallant public demonstration in his favor. If so, she was disappointed. “Upon my word!” he exclaimed, as the door shut after Vickers. “I never in all my life heard such an audacious impostor. Imagine his daring to pass himself off as Mr. Lee’s son throughout an entire month!” “He told me within twenty-four hours of his arrival that he was not Bob Lee, and I think he told you, too, James; only you would not believe him.” Emmons took no notice of this reply, but continued his own train of thought. “When I think that for four weeks you have been practically alone in the house with an escaped murderer--for I don’t believe a word of all this story about false testimony--my blood runs cold. And it is only by the merest chance that we have succeeded in rescuing all your uncle’s property from his hands.” “I think you are wrong, James. Mr. Vickers never intended to accept my uncle’s property.” “My dear Nellie! Women are so extraordinarily innocent in financial matters. That was the object of his whole plot.” “I don’t think it was a plot. It seems to me, indeed, that we both owe an apology to Mr. Vickers.”