'To-morrow I shall invite Captain Moray from the scaffold to my
breakfast-table--or, better still, invite myself to his own.' His
hand caught mine, as I gave a little cry; for when I felt sure of
your reprieve, I could not, Robert, I could not keep it back. He
thought I was startled at his hand-pressure, and did not guess the
real cause.

"'I have met one challenge, and I shall meet the other,' he said
quickly. 'It is not so much a matter of power, either; it is that
engine opportunity. You and I should go far in this wicked world,'
he added. 'We think together, we see through ladders. I admire you,
mademoiselle. Some men will say they love you; and they should, or
they have no taste; and the more they love you, the better pleased
am I--if you are best pleased with me. But it is possible for men to
love and not to admire. It is a foolish thing to say that reverence
must go with love. I know men who have lost their heads and their
souls for women whom they knew infamous. But when one admires where
one loves, then in the ebb and flow of passion the heart is safe,
for admiration holds when the sense is cold.'

"You know well, Robert, how clever he is; how, listening to him,
you must admit his talent and his power. But oh, believe that,
though I am full of wonder at his cleverness, I can not bear him
very near me."

She paused. I looked most gravely at her, as well one might who
saw so sweet a maid employing her heart thus, and the danger that
faced her. She misread my look a little, maybe, for she said at
once: