why could it not be true of him, if it were true of her? And was it
not? Else why did she hang on his words and keep her eyes on his? Else
why was it so still in the room, as though the world too waited for
speech from his lips?

"I can't do it!" burst from him suddenly. "By God, I can't do it!"

"What, Harry?" The words were no more than breathed. He came right up to
her and caught her by the arm.

"You see all that--everything here? You love it?"

"Yes."

"As much as I do? As much as I do?" His self-control was gone. She made
no answer; she could not understand.

With an effort he mastered himself.

"Yes, you love it," he said, and a smile came on his face. "I'm glad you
love it. As God lives, unless you'd loved it, I'd have spoken not a word
of this. But you're one of us, you're a Tristram. I don't know the real
rights of it, but I'll run no risk of cheating a Tristram. You love it
all?"

"Yes, yes, Harry. But why, dear Harry, why?"

"Why? Because it's yours."

He let go her hand and reeled back a step.

"Mine? What do you mean?" she cried. Still the idea, the wild idea, that
he offered it with himself was in her mind.

"It's yours, not mine--it's never been mine. You're the owner of it.
You're Tristram of Blent."

"I--I Tristram of Blent?" She was utterly bewildered. For he was not a
lover--no lover ever spoke like that.

"Yes, I say, yes." His voice rose imperiously as it pronounced the words
that threw away his rule. "You're Lady Tristram of Blent."

She did not understand; yet she believed. He spoke so that he must be
believed.

"This is all yours--yours--yours. You're Tristram of Blent."

She rose to her height, and stood facing him.

"And you? And you?"

"I? I'm--Harry."

"Harry? Harry? Harry what?"

He smiled as he looked at her; as his eyes met hers he smiled.

"Harry what? Harry Nothing," he said. "Harry Nothing-at-all."

He turned and left her alone in the room. She sank back into the great
arm-chair where Addie Tristram had been wont to sit.

XIV

THE VERY SAME DAY

"Shall I wait up, my lord? Miss Gainsborough has gone to her room. I've
turned out the lights and shut up the house."

Harry looked at the clock in the study. It was one o'clock.

"I thought you'd gone to bed long ago, Mason." He rose and stretched
himself. "I'm going to town early in the morning. I shan't want any
breakfast and I shan't take anybody with me. Tell Fisher to pack my
portmanteau--thin