"How dared you sever every electric connection in my house ?" As she spoke she stepped backward a pace or two, resting herself for a moment against the footboard of the bed--full in the gaslight.

And he saw her face.
For a moment he studied her; an immense wave of incredulity swept over him--of wild unbelief, slowly changing to the astonishment of dawning conviction.

Astounded, silent, he stared at her from his shadowy corner; and after a while his pulses began to throb and throb and hammer, and the clamoring confusion of his senses seemed to deafen him.
[Illustration: "'This is atrocious,' she murmured, halting to confront him."] She rested a moment or two against the footboard of the bed, her big gray eyes fixed on his vague and shadowy form.
"This won't do," she said.
"No," he said, "it won't do." He spoke very quietly, very gently.

She detected the alteration in his voice and started slightly, as though the distant echo of a familiar voice had sounded.
"What did you say ?" she asked, coming nearer, pistol glittering in advance.
"I said 'It won't do.' I don't know what I meant by it.

If I meant anything I was wrong.