CHAPTER XXVIII.

With all her frail strength, Leonie was struggling in the grasp of a person who held her with the strength of a giant.

The excitement of the entire day had been too much for her and unconsciousness was threatened, but by a mighty effort she overcame it, knowing too well that upon the perfect retention of her faculties, everything depended.

"Let me go!" she cried struggling to free herself. "Let me go!"

"Tell me first where you were going in such hot haste at this hour in the morning and why?" demanded the stranger. "I claim that you are a thief."

"Then have me arrested," exclaimed Leonie, "but do not detain me here!"

"You seem too willing. I must understand the cause of all this before I do anything. Now act like a sensible boy and tell me where you were going and why?"

Leonie only continued to struggle.

Holding her with one hand in a grasp like iron the stranger took a match-safe from his pocket, and holding it between his teeth while he selected one, he struck it and lighted the gas in the hall.

Miss Chandler uttered a low cry and fell back. She had recognized Luis Kingsley.

His eyes met hers in a look of affected surprise.

"You, Miss Chandler!" he exclaimed. "This is indeed an unexpected encounter. Was this little vagrant trying to rob you?"

Miss Chandler was utterly at a loss what reply to make. She had almost as soon have had that will in the possession of Leonie Cuyler as of Luis Kingsley, and a chill of horror seemed to seal her lips.

A silence that was painful settled upon them.

Leonie could not exactly comprehend the situation, but she could see that Miss Chandler was not anxious to have the man know the secret that she was endeavoring to conceal, and Evelyn was striving to determine how much he had heard of the conversation that had taken place up-stairs.

Leonie had determined that she would tell him the truth, as he appeared a gentleman; and seeming to read something of her determination, Evelyn Chandler forced herself to speak.

"How came you here at this hour, Mr. Kingsley?" she asked coldly.

Leonie started perceptibly. The name told her all that Evelyn wished her to know.

"I might put the same question to you with effect, Miss Chandler," he returned.

"I came by the desire of Ben Mauprat, as you know. A man whose wife I have befriended more than once. My presence here is therefore not to be questioned; but yours seems singularly like unwarranted interference."

"Your words are curious, coming to one who entered to protect what he believed to be a woman in distress. May I inquire who this boy is? And why there seemed to be a quarrel--if not a fight--going on between you? My dear Miss Chandler, a young lady in society may have the right to go from one reception to another between three and four o'clock in the morning, but they are not so charitably inclined that they make disinterested visits at this hour. I confess that my curiosity is aroused. Where is the wife of Ben Mauprat? Who is this boy? Why are you here? And why was he endeavoring to escape you? I readily acknowledge that I may not have the right to ask you these questions, but situated as we are, I not only do ask them, but I demand that you answer."

"And if I refuse----"

"Then I shall take the trouble to discover for myself."

"Very well, then. I shall answer them. In the first place, the wife of Ben Mauprat is ill and has been taken to the hospital. The boy is Ben Mauprat's son. I was here at the request of Ben Mauprat to know if there were not something that I could do for the family in whom I have long been deeply interested. He was endeavoring to escape me because I wished to turn him over to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children to be taken care of. Even if Ben should be released from the position in which he is now placed, he is not a proper guardian for that boy, but the boy did not wish to do as I said. Now, is that satisfactory?"

"And you were demanding obedience to your will at the point of a knife. Was that it, Miss Chandler?" asked Kingsley, coolly ignoring her question.

She glanced down.

In her hand she still held the knife that she had taken from the table, and which, in her excitement, she had forgotten.

Her face became crimson. She could find no answer, and with a short laugh Kingsley turned to Leonie.

"What have you to say?" he demanded.

"Nothing!" she answered. "I deny your right to detain me here, and I command you to release me!"

"Spoken like a true son of Ben Mauprat!" exclaimed Kingsley, ironically. "It may not come amiss for me to remind you, Miss Chandler, nor you, Master Mauprat, that I have never been taken for a fool, and even if I had, there is no reason to believe that I am one. I have never gone prowling round in the dead of night without an object; therefore, following my usual example, I did not come here without one. I know that there is a mystery afloat. I have scented it, and I am determined to fathom it. I do not believe that you two are interested in it alone. I intend to search this house, after I have first made an examination of this boy to see what he has concealed upon his person with which he wished to escape, and which you were determined to prevent at the risk of murder."

He looked from Leonie to Evelyn, and from Evelyn back to Leonie, but neither spoke.

Both were endeavoring to think of some plan of action, and one seemed to be as uninventive as the other.

Had there been a desire upon Miss Chandler's part to act in unison with her sister, they might readily have thwarted Luis Kingsley, but there was little more desire in her heart to have Leonie in possession of the papers than Kingsley.

One promised as little to her as the other.

She lifted her head, and looked defiantly at the man.

"You have expressed your determination," she said, coldly, "now listen to mine. I propose that you shall leave this house, and I intend that you shall do it without accomplishing the design that you have intended. The question is, will you do it peaceably or not?"

Kingsley looked at her in absolute amazement.

She saw that it was a desperate case, and desperate cases required heroic handling, but he was unprepared for the amount of spirit that she displayed in a woman.

There was something like admiration in the glance that he bent upon her.

"Whether I do or not you deserve credit for your bravery!" he answered, slowly. "I do admire it! Upon my soul I do! Let me tell you something, Miss Chandler! Whatever you may say to the contrary, I am fully convinced that you did not come here this night for motives of charity alone, and I am further convinced that the reason that you gave for your unpleasantness with this boy was--pardon me--not the truth. But for all that, there is something about you that appeals to me strongly. I don't want to be your enemy! I don't want to do anything that will in any way injure you, but there are reasons why I am just as much interested in the contents of this house as you can be; therefore if you will take me into your confidence and trust me, there is no reason why we should not work together and benefit each other. A woman of your standing and wealth does not interest herself in a man like Ben Mauprat for nothing. Come, now! Is this to be a sort of partnership between us, or are you determined that I shall find out all for myself, to your detriment, perhaps?"

Leonie breathlessly awaited the answer. She felt that upon it depended her chance of escape with the papers, and so of saving Lynde Pyne.

It came at last!

Miss Chandler looked at him without flinching, and replied:

"There is no reason why I should make any bargain with you, sir. I command you to leave the house! In the event of your refusing to do so, I have in my possession a revolver which I shall not hesitate to use. I have not wished to threaten, but you have forced it upon me. Do not think that I shall fear, for this is that boy's home, and he has the right to protect it from entrance of burglars who break in in the dead of the night. He will be the single witness in the case, and I think I shall have nothing to fear from him. Now once more, will you go?"

"Now less than ever! You have firmly convinced me that there is something, even more than I thought, at the bottom of all this, and I am determined to discover it. Now, my dainty one!"

With a suddenness that lost Leonie her footing, he dropped his hold of her, and sprung toward Miss Chandler, catching her about the waist and pinioning her arms. With the ease of an athlete he turned her around, and wrenching the knife from her hand, threw it upon the floor.

Leonie had secured it within the twinkling of an eye, and with it she sprung toward the door.

But Kingsley had not left the rear unguarded in any such manner as that. She fell back with a little gasp of terror.

It was locked!

As soon as she could recover from her disappointment she turned and looked at Evelyn and Kingsley.

He had pushed her backward upon the stairs, and holding her with one hand and his knee succeeded in finding the revolver of which she had spoken.

Without the quiver of a muscle he calmly pocketed it, and released her from her uncomfortable position.

"I am sorry that you forced me to treat you so roughly," he said mildly. "There is nothing more annoying than to be compelled to use one's strength against a woman. There is so little of manhood in it, and yet one cannot always help it. Now, Master Mauprat, that you have seen there is no possibility of escape, are you ready to stand and deliver?"

There was something almost genial in his manner of saying it, and but for her knowledge that he was an utter scoundrel, Leonie could almost have liked him.

Yet she did not think much of that at the moment. Her mind was centered upon how she was to get away with those papers, a thing that began to appear to the last degree hopeless.

Then suddenly an idea struck her.

She realized how impossible it was for her to cope with him physically, for she would be less than a feather in his hand, and she saw that if she was to save Lynde Pyne she must give up the idea of sparing Evelyn Chandler.

She saw her way if she could but prevent Luis Kingsley from seeing the certificate of her mother's marriage with his uncle.

With a deprecating gesture she turned the handle of the knife toward him, as the vanquished do in battle when acknowledging themselves defeated.

He smiled as he took it, not endeavoring to conceal his surprise.

"You have not offered to compromise with me, Mr. Kingsley," she said coolly, "but I am open to a consideration of that kind if you see fit to make it. No, further than that, I will make the offer, if you are prepared to listen."