g. Inland, men
like tiny specks in the distance were working upon their farms. We
walked for a while in silence, and I found myself watching my companion.
Her head was thrown slightly back, she walked with all the delightful
grace of youth and strength, yet there was a cloud which still lingered
upon her face.

"These," I said abruptly "should be the happiest days of your life, Lady
Angela. After all, is it worth while to spoil them by worrying about
other people's doings?"

"Other people's doings?" she murmured.

I shrugged my shoulders.

"Selfishness, you know, is the permitted vice of the young--and of
lovers."

"Blenavon can scarcely rank amongst the other people with me," she said.
"He is my only brother."

"Colonel Ray is to be your husband," I reminded her, "which is far more
important."

She turned upon me with flaming cheeks.

"You do not understand what you are talking about, Mr. Ducaine," she
said, stiffly. "Colonel Ray and I are not lovers. You have no right to
assume anything of the sort."

"If you are not lovers," I said, "what right have you to marry?"

She seemed a little staggered, as indeed she might be by my boldness.

"You are very mediaeval," she remarked.

"The mediaeval sometimes survives. It is as true now as then that
loveless marriages are a curse and a sin," I answered. "It is the one
thing which remains now as it was in the beginning."

She looked at me furtively, almost timidly.

"I should like to know why you are speaking to me like this," she said.
"I do not want to seem unkind, but do you think that the length of our
acquaintance warrants it?"

"I do not know how long I have known you," I answered. "I do not
remember the time when I did not know you. You are one of those people
to whom I must say the things which come into my mind. I think that if
you do not love Colonel Ray you have no right to marry him."

She looked me in the face. Her cheeks were flushed with walking, and
the wind had blown her hair into becoming confusion.

"Mr. Ducaine," she said, "do you consider that Colonel Ray is your
friend?"

"He has been very good to me," I answered.

"There is something between you two. What is it?"

"It is not my secret," I told her.

"There is a secret, then," she murmured. "I knew it. Is this why you
do not wish me to marry him?"

"I have not said that I do not wish you to marry him," I reminded her.

"Not in words. You had no need to put it into words."