Not until then did he begin to see the changing lights in her eyes. Not
until he had finished did he notice that most of that vivid flush of
joy had gone from her face and that she was looking at him in a
strained, tense way. He felt then the reaction. She was not looking at
the thing as he was looking at it. He had offered to her another
woman's tragedy as THEIR opportunity, and her own woman's heart had
responded in the way that has been woman's since the dawn of life. A
sense of shame which he fought and tried to crush took possession of
him. He was right. He must be right, for it was his life that was
hanging in the balance. Yet Mary Josephine could not know that.
Her fingers had tightened about his, and she was looking away from him.
He saw now that the color had almost gone from her face. There was the
flash of a new fire in her yes.
"And THAT was why she was nervous and pale, with sometimes a frightened
look in her eyes," she spoke softly, repeating his words. "It was
because of this Chinese monster, Shan Tung--because he has some sort of
power over her, you say--because--"
She snatched her hand from his with a suddenness that startled him. Her
eyes, so beautiful and soft a few minutes before, scintillated fire.
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