Will you tell me"--curiously--"what induced
you to do it?"
"I'm very fond of Ann," returned Cara evasively.
He shook his head.
"I don't think that can have been all. You were running"--he regarded her
through narrowed lids--"a pretty big risk, and you're woman of the world
enough to know it. You are quite at my mercy, you see. A woman doesn't run
that kind of risk--for another woman." He leaned across the little table,
his compelling blue eyes concentrated on her face. "Do tell me why you did
it?"
For a moment she was silent. Then, lifting her eyes to meet his, she said
simply:
"I did it because once--years ago--I robbed Eliot Coventry of his
happiness. I wanted to give it back to him."
"And you were prepared to risk your reputation over the job?"--swiftly.
"Yes," she answered quietly. "I was prepared."
"Then you must have felt quite convinced he was in danger of losing his
happiness--to me?"--with lightning triumph.
"Not _to_ you--through you," she corrected quietly.
"Ann would have promised to marry me to-night."
"I'm sure she would not. But it was almost inevitable that Eliot would
misunderstand--distrust her, if he learned that she had been here with
you--this evening.
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