"Because it would be betraying his secret--eh?" I remarked with bitterness. "And, yet, in the same breath you have told me you hate him.
Surely, this att.i.tude of yours is an unusual one--is it not? You cannot hate him and strive to shield him at the same moment!"
She paused for a second before replying. Then she said:
"I admit that my att.i.tude towards your friend is a somewhat strange one, but there are reasons--strong, personal reasons of my own--which prevent me revealing to you the whole of what is a strange and ghastly story.
Surely it will suffice you to know that I did not conceal all knowledge of your friend and call upon him in secret all of my own free will. No, Teddy, I loved you--and I still love you, dear--far too well for that."
"I trusted you, Phrida, but you deceived me," I replied, with a poignant bitterness in my heart.
"Under compulsion. Because----" and she paused with a look of terror in her eyes.
"Because what?" I asked slowly, placing my hand tenderly upon her shoulder.
She shrank from contact with me.
"No. I--I can"t tell you. It--it"s all too terrible, too horrible!" she whispered hoa.r.s.ely, covering her white face with her hands. "I loved you, but, alas! all my happiness, all the joy of which I have so long dreamed, has slipped away from me because of the one false step--my one foolish action--of which I have so long repented."
"Tell me, Phrida," I urged, in deep earnestness, bending down to her.
"Confide in me."
"No," she replied, with an air of determination. "It is my own affair. I have acted foolishly and must bear the consequences."
"But surely you will not sacrifice our love rather than tell me the truth!" I cried.
Hot tears welled in her eyes, and I felt her frail form tremble beneath my touch.
"Alas! I am compelled," she faltered.
"Then you refuse to tell me--you refuse to explain why this man whom I believed to be my friend, and to whom I have rendered many services, has held you in his thraldom?" I exclaimed bitterly.
CHAPTER XIV.
REVEALS A FURTHER DECEPTION.
My love paused. She remained silent for a long time. Then, with her head bowed, she faltered:
"Yes. I--I am compelled to refuse."
"Why compelled?" I demanded.
"I--I cannot tell you," she whispered hoa.r.s.ely. "I dare not."
"Dare not? Is your secret so terrible, then?"
"Yes. It is all a mystery. I do not know the truth myself," she replied.
"I only know that I--that I love you, and that now, because that woman has spoken, I have lost you and am left to face the world--the police--alone!"
"Have I not told you, dearest, that I will do my best to protect and defend you if you will only reveal the truth to me," I said.
"But I can"t."
"You still wish to shield this blackguard who has held you in secret in his hands?" I cried in anger.
"No, I don"t," she cried in despair. "I tell you, Teddy, now--even if this is the last time we ever meet--that I love you and you alone. I have fallen the victim of a clever and dastardly plot, believe me, or believe me not. What I tell you is the truth."
"I do believe you," I replied fervently. "But if you love me, Phrida, as you declare, you will surely reveal to me the perfidy of this man I have trusted!"
"I--I can"t now," she said in a voice of excuse. "It is impossible. But you may know some day."
"You knew that I visited him on that fatal night. Answer me?"
She hesitated. Then presently, in a low tone, replied--
"Yes, Teddy, I knew. Ah!" she went on, her face white and haggard. "You cannot know the torture I have undergone--fearing that you might be aware of my presence there. Each time I met you I feared to look you in the face."
"Because your secret is a guilty one--eh?"
"I fell into a trap, and I cannot extricate myself," she declared hoa.r.s.ely. "Now that the police know, there is only one way out for me,"
she added, in a tone of blank despair. "I cannot face it--no--I--now that I have lost your love, dear. I care for naught more. My enemies will hound me to my death!"
And she burst into a torrent of bitter tears.
"No, no," I answered her, placing my hand tenderly upon her shoulder.
"Reveal the truth to me, and I will protect you and shield you from them.
At present, though the police are in possession of your finger-prints, as being those of a person who had entered the flat on that night, they have no knowledge of your ident.i.ty, therefore, dear, have no fear."
"Ah! but I am in peril!" she cried, and I felt her shudder beneath my touch. "That woman--ah!--she may tell the police!"
"What woman?"
"Mrs. Petre, the woman who has already betrayed me to you."
"Then she knows--she knows your secret?" I gasped.
She bent her head slowly in the affirmative.
I saw in her eyes a look of terror and despair, such as I had never before seen in the eyes of any person before--a haunted, agonised expression that caused my heart to go out in sympathy for her--for even though she might be guilty--guilty of that crime of vengeance, yet, after all, she was mine and she possessed my heart.
"Is there no way of closing that woman"s lips?" I asked very slowly.
She was silent, for, apparently, the suggestion had not before occurred to her. Of a sudden, she looked up into my face earnestly, and asked:
"Tell me, Teddy. Will you promise me--promise not to prejudge me?"
"I do not prejudge you at all, dearest," I declared with a smile. "My annoyance is due to your refusal to reveal to me anything concerning the man who has falsely posed as my friend."