"
He had carelessly tossed his Panama hat on to the table, but kept the
black bag, which he now held out with a smile.
"Not a big bag, is it? And so common, it wouldn't be likely to tempt
a thief. But it holds what is worth--if it has a price--about half a
million dollars."
"Oh!" exclaimed Annesley. She looked horrified; and through the green
gloom the old man read her face.
"I see!" he said, with a laugh in his young voice. "You have heard the
great secret! That makes another who knows. But I'm not afraid you'll
throw me to the dogs. You wouldn't do that even if you weren't
Donaldson's wife. Being his wife, you could not."
"My husband has told me no secret about you, none at all," the girl
protested, defending Knight involuntarily. "I beg you to believe that,
Mr. Van Vreck."
"I do believe it. If there's one thing I pride myself on, it's being a
judge of character. That's why I've made a success of life. You wouldn't
lie, perhaps not even to save the one you love best. I believe that he
did not tell you the secret. Yet I'm certain you know it. I suppose other
discoveries you must have made gave you supernatural intuition.
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