e had been guilty
of deeds in India, which if made known would mean life-long disgrace.
That he, that is Colonel Springfield, had only to speak and--and oh, I
can't tell you! I'm too ashamed!'

'I don't need telling,' I laughed. 'I know. He bound you to secrecy
before telling you anything. He found out that you loved Jack, and he
used your love as a lever. Like the mean scoundrel he was, he tried to
make you promise to marry him, by threatening to expose Jack if you
wouldn't. And you, because you were a silly girl, were afraid of him.
You were the victim of an Adelphi melodrama plot.'

'Oh, I am ashamed,' she cried; 'but--he showed me proofs, or what
seemed to be proofs of his guilt. He said his loss of memory was real,
but that he, Colonel Springfield, knew who he was, and--oh, I am mad
when I think of it!'

'And that's all!' I laughed, 'Why, little girl, when Jack knows, he'll
rejoice in what you've told me.'

'No, he won't,' she cried piteously. 'Don't you see, he made me
believe it! That is why--why I'm so ashamed. What will he think when
he knows I believed him guilty of the most horrible things?'

'I know what he'll think when he knows that in order to save him you
were ready to----'

'Besides, don't you see?' she interrupted, 'I refused him when he was
nameless, and--and all that sort of thing, while now as Lord Carbis's
son----'

But she did not finish the sentence. At that moment Jack Carbis leapt
over a stile into the lane where we were walking.

With that quick intuition which I had so often noticed, he seemed to
divine in a moment what we were talking about. He looked at us both
for a few seconds without speaking, while both of us were so startled
by his sudden appearance, that I think we were both incapable of
uttering a word.

'How did you get here?' I gasped presently.

'I motored over,' he said. 'After you had left this
morning--I--I--thought I would. It was only a hundred and fifty miles.
They told me at the house which way you had gone, and----'

'You followed us,' I interjected. 'Jack, I think you have something to
say to Lorna, and I fancy Sir Thomas and Lady Bolivick may be lonely.
I shall see you presently, shan't I?'

Lorna looked at me with frightened eyes, as if in protest, then she
turned towards my friend.

'Will you come with me?' said Jack, and his voice was tremulous, 'I
say, you will come, won't you?'

She hesitated a second, and then the two walked away t