"Were they alone?"
"Yes."
"You took pains to leave them alone, I suppose?"
"Sometimes"—she paused and looked at him with a smile that was a sneer. "What are you afraid of?"
He returned her gaze steadily:
"Anything is possible of your daughter—the thought of it strangles me!"
Cleo laughed lightly:
"Then all you've got to do is to speak—tell Tom the truth."
"I'll die first!" he fiercely replied. "At least I've taught him racial purity. I've been true to my promise to the dead in this. He shall never know the depths to which I once fell! You have robbed me of everything else in life, this boy's love and respect is all that you've left me"—he stopped, his breast heaving with suppressed passion. "Why—why did you bring that girl into this house?"
"I wished to see her—that's enough. For twenty years, I've lived here as a slave, always waiting and hoping for a sign from you that you were human——"