“Tell your mistress I am waiting,” he said, abruptly.

The maid did not return, and his anger grew with each lengthening minute.

At the end of an hour, Kate appeared.

He fixed her with a look of angry amazement.

“Well, what is it?” she asked, impatiently.

“Why did you keep your maid and send no answer to me?”

“I was writing a letter. Are you a king? What is it?” she repeated, coldly.

“I wish to say something of the utmost importance both to you and to me, and to another man,” he said slowly, in a voice pulsing with a storm of emotion.

The violet eyes danced and laughed in his face.

“So tragic?” she asked, mockingly.