ied.

'And you do not believe that the change in his life has made any
difference to--to that?'

'Not a bit.'

'Oh, I have been mad--criminally mad!' she burst out passionately. 'No
one despises me more than I despise myself. You say he loves me, but
he would hate me, scorn me if--if he knew.'

'Knew what?'

'I can't tell you. I simply can't.'

'But you _will_!' I said grimly; 'you will tell me now.'

'Major Luscombe!'

'Yes, be as angry as you like, I am angry too. And I tell you plainly
that I am not going to allow my friend's life to be ruined because of
the vagaries of a silly child. For you _are_ a silly child. You have
got hold of some hare-brained fancy, and you are magnifying it into a
mountain. You've got to tell me all about it, because I'm sure it
stands in the way of my friend's happiness.'

'But you don't understand. I've been--oh, I'm ashamed of myself!'

Some men perhaps would, on listening to this outburst, have imagined
some guilty secret on her part. But knowing her as I did, it was
impossible for me to do so.

'You are going to tell me about it,' I said. 'What is it?'

'But you'll not tell him; promise me that.'

'You must trust me,' I replied, 'and your trust must be complete. What
power had Springfield over you? What did he say to you in that letter?'

She was silent for a few seconds, then she said, 'You remember what I
said about him when I first saw him?'

'Yes, you said he made you think of snakes. You told me you disliked
him.'

'That's why I'm so ashamed. I knew he was a bad man, and yet he
fascinated me. I was afraid of him, and yet he almost made me promise
to marry him.'

'Go on,' I said when she hesitated, 'tell me the rest.'

'When--when--your friend came here for the first time, he--he----'

'Fell in love with you. Yes, it is no use mincing words. The moment
he saw you, he gave his life to you. He told me so. He told you so.'

'I knew it before he told me.'

'How did you know?'

Her tell-tale blush, her quivering lips, told their own story, and I
could not help laughing aloud.

'Don't be cruel!' she cried.

'I am not cruel, I am only very happy. I am happy because my friend is
going to be happy.'

'But you don't know all.'

'I know that love overcomes all difficulties, and I know that you love
each other.'

'Yes, but listen. He--that is, that man--told me that although you did
not know who your friend was, he knew. He said that h