he had gone several steps forward in his attack, he now
desired to turn back. He seemed about to speak, then hesitated and was
silent.

'Why force me to tell the truth?' he said lamely. 'I do not wish to
say more. Take my advice, and leave while you may.'

'I am a soldier,' cried Springfield, 'and I am not one to run
away--especially from vague threats. Nay, more,' and he turned to
Lorna Bolivick, 'Miss Bolivick--Lorna, to prove how I scorn these vague
threats, I ask you here and now, although I am only a poor man, and
have nothing to offer you but the love of a poor soldier, to give me
the happiness I have so longed and prayed for.'

CHAPTER XXXIX

SPRINGFIELD AT BAY

But Lorna did not speak. That she realized the situation no one could
doubt. The sea in which the bark of her life was sailing was full of
cross currents, and in her excitement she did not know the course she
ought to steer.

It was here that Sir Thomas Bolivick thought it right to speak. I
gathered that he was not pleased at Springfield's avowal, for while he
doubtless favoured his suit while he was to all appearances the heir to
Lord Carbis, events had changed everything.

'Why have you told us this now, and--and in such a way?' he asked,
turning to my friend.

Jack hesitated a second before replying. He realized that nothing
could prejudice his cause in Lorna's eyes more than by attacking his
rival.

'Because I want to save Miss Bolivick,' he said.

'From what? Tell us plainly what you mean!'

'From promising to marry a man who is unworthy of her, and who would
blacken her life.'

'Prove it. You have said too much or too little. Either prove what
you have said, or withdraw it.'

Springfield laughed aloud. 'Surely,' he said, 'we have had enough of
this! You see, after all his bluster, what it really amounts to.'

'Just a minute, please,' and Jack's voice became almost menacing. 'I
am not in the habit of blustering. I have warned you to go away from
here, and as you have forced me to go into details I will do so. You
insist, then, that I lie when I say that I saw Maurice St. Mabyn alive
in the July of 1914?'

'I do not say that, but I do say that you are suffering from an
hallucination,' replied Springfield. 'You may have recovered your
memory, but in doing so you suffer from remembering more than ever took
place.'

'You insist on that?'

'Certainly I do. I can do no other. If you are not mentally deranged