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 forfeited all claim to this lady’s consideration. For the rest, the remedy is in your own hands.”

“Being aware of that fact I shall not need you to dictate my course of action. That is one of the things I do in my own way, Mr. Vermont, and presently I shall have something to say to you on that head. There is a cab at the door, Irene. Are you ready?”

“T will go no more with you,” she said determinedly. “There is a limit even to the bearing of brutality, and I have reached it. My fate is here with the man I love.”

With a gesture of defiance and contempt she held out her hand, which Perseus took and pressed fervently.

“Ah, yes,” he sneered, “you were always a generous lover, always ready to sacrifice yourself on the altar of affection—for anyone who had no legal claim to it. But I cannot permit that unparalleled generosity of yours to betray you into further unnecessary sacrifices. The loss of affection does not necessarily imply the absence of obligation. I must endeavour to save you even in spite of yourself.”

“Hypocrite and liar,” she said fiercely, all the terror of him seeming to have flown in the