"Yes?"
"You said you were afraid, afraid of Mr. Jack Lamont."
"Yes," she whispered.
"Well, you never need be afraid of him again."
"I—I don't understand."
"Jack Lamont is dead."
She gave a startled cry.
"Dorian—you—?"
"No; I have not killed him. He was and is in the hands of the Lord."
Then he told her what had happened that afternoon.
Carlia listened with staring eyes and bated breath. And Dorian had actually risked his life in an attempt to save Jack Lamont! If Dorian only had known! But he would never know, never now. She had heard of the fight between Dorian and Lamont, as that had been common gossip for a time; but Carlia had no way of connecting that event with herself or her secret, as no one had heard what words passed between them that day, and Dorian had said nothing. And now he had tried to save the life of the man whom he had so thoroughly trounced. "What a puzzle he was! And yet what a kind, open face was his, as he sat there in the reddening evening light telling her in his simple way what he had done. What did he know, anyway? For it would be just like him to do good to those who would harm him; and had she not proved in her own case that he had been more patient and kind to her after her return than before. What did he know?