She shook her head.
"No! I know that you cannot prevent me."
"I can," he said. "You do not understand. I saved the boy, but I can destroy him."
She shrank back.
"With a word!" he said, almost fiercely, his lips trembling. "One word, and he is destroyed. You doubt? See!" And he drew a paper from his pocket-book. "The crime he committed was forgery—forgery! Here is the proof!"
She shrank back still further, and held up her hands as if to shut the paper from her sight.
"Do not deceive yourself," he said, in his intense voice; "his safety lies in my hands—I hold the sword. It is for you to say whether I shall let it fall."
"Spare him!" she breathed, panting—"spare me!"
"I will spare him—I will save both him and you. Stella, say but the word; say to me here, now, 'Jasper, I will marry you,' and he is safe!"
With a low cry she sank against the door, and looked at him.