His gaze swept the long, luxurious drawing-room, now filled with the shadows of late afternoon.

A sigh that ended in an unvoiced imprecation escaped him.

There was not an object in the room that did not possess for him a peculiar claim of intimacy.

Here he had dreamed of paradise with Anne, and here he had built upon his hopes,--a staunch future that demanded little of the imagination.

He could never forget this room and all that it had held for him.
But now, in that brief, swift glance, he found himself estimating the cost of all the treasures that it contained, and the price that was to be paid in order that they might not be threatened.