I could only hide my face in the bedclothes, writhed all through with agony. There was a little spell of silence; then my brother bespoke my attention with a gentle push.

“Renny, do you want all this known to the others?”

I raised my head in a sudden gust of passion.

“Do what you like!” I cried. “I know you now, and you can’t make it much worse!”

“Oh, yes,” he said, coolly; “I can make it a good deal worse. Nobody but I knows at present, don’t you see?”

I looked at him with a sudden gleam of hope.

“Don’t you intend to tell, Jason?”

He laughed again, lightly.

“That depends. I must borrow my cue from Modred and make conditions.”

I had no need to ask what they were. In whatever direction I looked now, I saw nothing but a blank and deadly waste.