met at the ball," he went on. "That one delightful dance seemed, by
some magic which I can't explain, to draw us together in a few minutes
as if we had known each other for years. Oh, dear! I could make such a
confession of what I felt--only I am afraid of offending you by speaking
too soon. Women are so dreadfully difficult to understand. How is a man
to know at what time it is considerate toward them to conceal his true
feelings; and at what time it is equally considerate to express his true
feelings? One doesn't know whether it is a matter of days or weeks or
months--there ought to be a law to settle it. Dear Miss Charlotte, when
a poor fellow loves you at first sight, as he has never loved any other
woman, and when he is tormented by the fear that some other man may
be preferred to him, can't you forgive him if he lets out the truth a
little too soon?" He ventured, as he put that very downright question,
to take her hand. "It really isn't my fault," he said, simply. "My heart
is so full of you I can talk of nothing else."

To Percy's delight, the first experimental pressure of his hand, far
from being resented, was softly returned. Charlotte looked at him again,
with a new resolution in her face.

"I'll forgive you for talking nonsense, Mr. Linwood," she said; "and I
will even permit you to come and see me again, on one condition--that
you tell the whole truth about the duel. If you conceal the smallest
circumstance, our acquaintance is at an end."

"Haven't I owned everything already?" Percy inquired, in great
perplexity. "Did I say No, when you told me I was the man?"

"Could you say No, with that plaster on your neck?" was the ready
rejoinder. "I am determined to know more than the newspaper tells me.
Will you declare, on your word of honor, that Captain Bervie had nothing
to do with the duel? Can you look me in the face, and say that the real
cause of the quarrel was a disagreement at cards? When you were talking
with me just before I left the ball, how did you answer a gentleman who
asked you to make one at the whist-table? You said, 'I don't play at
cards.' Ah! You thought I had forgotten that? Don't kiss my hand! Trust
me with the whole truth, or say good-by forever."

"Only tell me what you wish to know, Miss Charlotte," said Percy humbly.
"If you will put the questions, I will give the answers--as well as I
can."

On this understanding, Percy's evidence was extracted from him as
follows:

"Was it C