"How you hate him!" she gasped.
He shrugged and turned half toward her.
"Hate? Hardly. I merely despise him. I would have killed him to-night with a clean conscience, knowing what I do." He dropped the cigarette he had taken up and approached her a pace or two. "Oh, Moira, alanah, won't ye see? Is it blind ye are to the truth that lies before yer very eyes——? Can't ye see that it's the love of ye that drives me to protect yer happiness? Have I ever failed ye, all these years? Haven't I given ye yer share of all I had? Answer me that—aye—even when there was not too much for the both of us?"
"I—I've heard enough—to-night," she said wearily.
"I'm sorry. I—I've done what I thought was the best. I'm still yer guardian—until ye come into yer own——"
"I can't listen to that," she shuddered. "De Vautrin—my father!"
He bowed his head with tragic grace.
"The same—bad cess to him."
She sank into a chair, bewildered and helpless.
"I want nothing—only to go away somewhere alone. I've heard enough."