"I am sorry you object so much to have me for your husband, for I have sworn to make you my wife or to kill you!" The beautiful girl sitting close to poor, gasping Hetty, answered him with a look of silent scorn. "It is true," he continued, "I love you madly, and I have sworn to win you. I know the distance seems great to you between the poor drawing-master and the petted daughter of Senator Winans, but love has often bridged gulfs as deep. Once we are married your parents will forgive you, and your father can easily give me a lucrative Government position that will place me on a high social footing. You see how easy it all is, as I told your sister at the masquerade ball last night." A startled cry came from her pale lips, and he laughed: "Yes, I was there, and often near you, for, like your sister, I was jealous of the attentions of handsome King Arthur, who hovered so often near the princess. Do you remember the knight who tried to make love to you, and on whom you turned a cold shoulder? Your sister was not so unkind to me. We had a long talk in the conservatory, and she helped me plan this little scheme that placed you in my power." Oh, the cry of agony that came from those lovely lips at his words! They pierced poor Hetty's heart with their doubt and pain! "You speak falsely! My sister Ethel would not be so cruel!" "Your sister Ethel had no choice. I held the secret of her desertion of you in the burning house that day--the secret you kept at her bidding! She dare not let it be known, for she knew that she was guilty of desiring your death, because she was jealous of you." Hetty moaned feebly: "Don't you believe him, Miss Precious. Miss Ethel would not be so wicked. It was the old woman, his mother, that set fire to the house and ran away, hoping you would both be burned up." "Hold your tongue!" Lindsey Warwick said, glaring fiercely at the invalid. "What my mother did does not excuse the sin of Ethel Winans. She escaped from the fire and ran away, giving no alarm to let any one know that Precious was left to an awful fate. She is afraid to let the world know it, and when I threatened to betray her she paid the price of my silence by sacrificing her sister." Everything rushed over Precious. She could not doubt that her proud, jealous sister hated her with an envious rage. It was like a sword in her tender heart. "Oh, Heaven! I would sooner have died than heard this hideous truth!" she moaned, and the fair golden head sank until it rested on Hetty's coarse pillow, while the white lids drooped heavily over the violet eyes. Lindsey Warwick sprang eagerly forward, but Hetty motioned him sternly back. "You sha'n't touch her, you fiend, unless by her own consent, and I know you'll never get that! So go out and leave her to herself." He laughed arrogantly in his consciousness of power and answered: