te foes, depart. Josephine St. Auban stood not
far away. He turned to her, and her gaze fell upon his face, now
haggard and gaunt. He had ridden sixty miles since the previous
sun, half the distance wounded as he was; had been without sleep
for thirty-six hours, without food for almost as long, and now was
suffering with an aggravated wound.

"You are ill," she said to him impulsively. "You're badly hurt."

"Aren't you glad to see me suffer?" he asked grimly.

"I am not glad to see any one suffer."

"Well, never mind about me. But now, you, yourself. Didn't I tell
you to go to your room and rest?"

She was pale, the corners of her mouth were drawn, her eyes were
duller. Neither had she slept. She also suffered, even now. Yet
her courage matched his own. She smiled.

"It makes me crawl, all the way through, to see a woman hurt that
way. Why did you try to climb out of that window? You weren't
walking in your sleep."

"I was trying to get away from you. I thought you were coming. I
thought I heard you--at the door." She looked him full in the face,
searching it for sign of guilt, of confusion. "Was it not enough?"
she added.

The frown on his face only deepened. "That was not true," said he.
"I never came to your door. It was Sally you heard. I'll
confess--I sent her, to get away those--those clothes you saw. I
didn't want--you to see them."

"I believe you!" she said, low, as if she spoke to herself. "Yes,
I understand now."

"Why don't you say I'm lying to you?"

"Because you are not lying. Because you tell me the truth, and I
know it. I was mistaken."

"How do you know? Why forgive me? I don't want you to forgive me.
You don't understand the madness--"

"What hope could there be in a particular madness such as that?"
He could see her eyes turned on him steadily. He turned away,
sighing.

"I am degraded for ever."

"Tell me," she flashed out upon him suddenly; "what did you think
then of _me_, there on the boat? How did you dare--"

"I don't think I had any conclusion--I only wanted you. I just
couldn't think of your going away, that was all. I'd never seen a
woman like you, I'll never hope to see another your equal in all my
life. And you sent for me, told me to come, said you needed help.
I didn't know what you were. But I didn't care what you were,
either. I don't care now. Your past might be what you liked, you
might be what you are not, and it would make no diff