up. I'll take you somehow, whether you will or not, and
I'll hide you somewhere, but you sha'n't get away from me as long as you
live."

"You must be mad!" exclaimed the young girl, scarcely above her breath,
half-frightened, and unable to loose her eyes from the fascination of
his.

"No, I'm not mad; only you've never seen any one in earnest before, and
you've been condemning me without evidence all along. But it must stop
now. You must tell me what it is, for I have a right to know. Tell me
what it all is. I will know--I will. Look at me; you can't look away
till you tell me."

Clare felt his power, and felt that his eyes were dazzling her, and that
if she did not escape from them she must yield and tell him. She tried,
and her eyelids quivered. Then she raised her hand to cover her own
eyes, in a desperate attempt to keep her secret. He caught it and held
it, and still looked. She turned pale suddenly. Then her words came
mechanically.

"I was out there when you said 'good-bye' to Lady Fan. I heard
everything, from first to last."

He started in surprise, and the colour rose suddenly to his face. He did
not look away yet, but Clare saw the blush of shame in his face, and
felt that his power diminished, while hers grew all at once, to
overmaster him in turn.

"It's scarcely a fortnight since you betrayed her," she said, slowly and
distinctly, "and you expect me to like you and to believe that you are
in earnest."

His shame turned quickly to anger.

"So you listened!" he exclaimed.

"Yes, I listened," she answered, and her words came easily, then, in
self-defence--for she had thought of it all very often. "I didn't know
who you were. My mother and I had been sitting beside the cross in the
shadow of the cave, and she went in to finish a letter, leaving me
there. Then you two came out talking. Before I knew what was happening
you had said too much. I felt that if I had been in Lady Fan's place I
would far rather never know that a stranger was listening. So I sat
still, and I could not help hearing. How was I to know that you meant to
stay here until I heard you say so to her? And I heard everything. You
are ashamed now that you know that I know. Do you wonder that I disliked
you from the first?"

"I don't see why you should," answered Brook stubbornly. "If you do--you
do. That doesn't change matters--"

"You betrayed her!" cried Clare indignantly. "You forgot that I heard
all you said--how you promised