'Then you do not know?'

He would not give me the satisfaction of a simple answer.

'Let me see,' he said, in a musing tone, 'to-day is her birthday.'

'You do know that.'

'She told me herself; these things are not guessed at.'

'You have not answered my question,' I said, trembling from passion and from a sense of helplessness.

'You have not answered mine,' he replied. 'I ask you why you put it to me?'

Turk motioned to me that I ought to tell him, but I could not speak.

'Perhaps I had best explain,' Turk then said. 'This is Jessie's birthday, as you know, and Christopher and his mother had prepared a little feast in honour of it.'

'After the manner of such people,' observed Mr. Glover, with a sneer and a laugh, which set my pulses beating more quickly. Turk took no notice of the observation.