"Monty," she said, "I have something to say to you first."
Her action surprised him. It touched him also, but he did not show it.
She looked up at him and uttered a sharp sigh. Then, with an effort, she rose and faced him.
"You are very angry with me," she said. "You are going to--to--give me up."
His face hardened. He looked back at her with a sternness that sent the blood to her heart. He said nothing whatever. She went on with difficulty.
"But before you do," she said, "I want to tell you that--that--ever since you asked me to marry you I have loved you--with my whole heart; and I have never--in thought or deed--been other than true to my love. I can't tell you any more than that. It is no good to question me. I may have done things of which you would strongly disapprove, which you would even condemn, but my heart has always been true to you--always."
She stopped. Her lips were quivering painfully. She saw that her words had not moved him to confidence in her, and it seemed as if the whole world had suddenly turned dark and empty and cold--a place to wander in, but never to rest.
A long silence followed that supreme effort of hers. Baring's eyes--blue, merciless as steel--were fixed upon her in a gaze that pierced and hurt her. Yet he forced her to endure it. He held her in front of him ruthlessly, almost cruelly.
"So I am not to question you?" he said at last. "You object to that?"
"Don't!" she said under her breath. "Don't hurt me more--more than you need!"
He was silent again, grimly, interminably silent, it seemed to her. And all the while she felt him doing battle with her, beating down her resistance, mastering her, compelling her.
She looked up at him. Her knees were shaking under her. Her heart was beginning to whisper that her strength was nearly spent; that she would not be able to resist much longer.
"Tell me," he said very quietly, "this one thing only! What is the hold that Hyde has over you?"
"It is the one thing that I must know," he said sternly.
"You must answer me!" He turned her quivering face up to his own. "Do you hear me, Hope?" he said. "I insist upon your answering me."
He still spoke quietly, but she was suddenly aware that he was putting forth his whole strength. It came upon her like a physical, crushing weight. It overwhelmed her. She hid her face with an anguished cry. He had conquered her.