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A savage desire to grasp her by the throat and hurl her into the waters beyond the break came over him with irresistible power Then came the pitiable collapse which conquered the murderous impulses and left him weak and broken for the moment With a sob he turned and leaned upon the wall, his back to her, his face buried in his tense arms--crushed, despised, dishonoured! Kill her? The horror of it swept his brain clear for an instant Kill his pretty Frances? Kill Jane'sti close behind hih the noise of his pounding heart as if it were far away and gentle But as it that she was saying? Her voice was angry, suppressed, conde

"You may take it or refuse it, just as you please," were the first words his turbulent senses distinguished "I can pay no more than that for your silence The other is iain with you" She paused as if waiting for hi--the whole story I cannot endure the suspense any longer I will not live in fear of you another hour My only reason for coht is to plead with you to spare your son and Jane I a for myself It would break Jane's heart if Graydon should refuse to marry her You must have a heart somewhere in that--" But the words became jumbled in the ears of her listener Frorasped such sentences as these, paralysing in their bitterness: "I have the letters of adoption David will not believe what you say He lovesto pay all that I have to keep it from Graydon and Jane But I intend to tell er He will understand even though he should hate h she is not his own child"

David Cable seerasping the full importance of every sentence that rushed fro words fell like the blow of a club in the hands of a powerful man He was dazed, stunned, senseless It seemed to him that his breath had ceased to come and that his whole body had turned to stone His wide staring eyes saw nothing ahead of him