, but he seemed wholly ignorant of the
fact that it was out. His face was set in its grimmest lines. He
looked steadily at a certain spot in the fire, and went on.

"There are things," he said, "which troubled me little at the time, but
which just lately have been on my mind. The first is that I am nearly
fifty, and Lady Angela is twenty-one. The second is that I came home
with all the tinsel and glamour of a popular hero. Heaven knows I
loathed it, but the fact remains. The King's reception, the V.C., and
all that sort of thing, I suppose, accounted for it. Anyhow, I am
troubled with this reflection. Lady Angela was very young, and I fear
that her imagination was touched. She accepted my offer, and she has
been very loyal. Until to-night no word of disagreement has passed
between us. But there have been times lately when I have fancied that I
have noticed a change. A time has come now when I could give her back
her freedom without reproach on either side. I want to know whether it
is my duty to give it her back."

Then Ray looked straight into my face, and the colour flamed there, for
I saw now why he had made me his confidant.

"What do you think, Guy? You are only a boy, but you are of her age,
and you have seen a little of her lately. You are only a boy, but then
only boys and novelists understand women. Speak up and tell me what is
in your mind."

"I will tell you this," I answered hotly. "If I were you, and Lady
Angela had promised to be my wife, I would not sit and hatch scruples
about marrying her. I would marry her first, and make her happy
afterwards, and as for the rest--for the questions which you have asked
me, and yet not put into words--I have never heard or seen in Lady
Angela the slightest sign that you were not her lover as well as the man
whom she was engaged to marry. As for my own folly, since you seem to
have noticed it, no one knows better than I that it is the rankest, most
absurd presumption. But with me it begins and ends. That is a most
absolute and certain fact."

Ray rapped his pipe upon the table.

"Listen," he said. "I found you nameless and practically lost. Yet you
have powerful relatives, and your family is equal to the Duke's. There
may be money too some day. Bear these things in mind. Can you repeat
what you have said?"

It was a wild dream--a wonderful one. But, before me I saw the stern
white face of the man, eager for his share of happiness after all these
magnificent year