Page:The traitor; a story of the fall of the invisible empire (IA traitorstoryoffa00dixo).pdf/241

 "You have a message from Mr. Graham?"

"How did you guess it?"

"He has tried every other possible way. I wondered if he would stoop to this."

"Stoop!—what do you mean?"

"To use you for such a purpose."

"And why not?"

"You ask that of me?" The great brown eyes pierced Susie's soul.

"Certainly."

"Then it's all right," she said with a light laugh.

"You must receive his message," Susie said. "You've won the heart of the noblest man I have ever known—a great, beautiful, measureless love. Don't turn away from it—you may not know its like again."

The full lips smiled curiously.

"I've brought you a letter from him—you must read it."

Susie pressed the letter into Stella's hand and turned away to the window. She heard the rattle of the paper as it was opened and refolded, and walked back to the bedside. Before she could ask Stella's answer, her eye rested on a letter in Ackerman's handwriting, lying open on the white covering. She started violently but managed to suppress an exclamation. Only that morning she had received herself a letter from the young