t," Hugh said. He looked at the girl, her white face, the hard line
made by a mouth that should be sweet and gentle.

It seemed, he thought, that the very sight of him roused all that was
cold and bitter in her nature.

"Am I to be tormented and insulted by you all my life?" she asked.

"You are unreasonable! You cannot think that this visit is one that
gives me any pleasure," Hugh said.

"Then why do you come?"

"I asked permission of your employer to see you, and he kindly placed
his office at our disposal. I shall not keep you long."

"I do not intend that you shall, and in future--"

"Will you hear what I have to say? Surely I am not asking too much?"

"Is it necessary?"

"To me, very! I wish to make a few things plain to you. In the past--I
had no intention of hurting or of disgracing you--"

Slotman started, and clenched his hands. What did that man mean? He
wondered, what could such words as those mean?

"But as I have shamed and angered you, I have come to offer the only
reparation in my power--a poor one, I will admit."

He looked at her, paused for a moment to give her an opportunity of
speaking, but she did not speak. She looked at him steadily.

"May I briefly explain my position? I am practically alone in the world.
My home is at Hurst Dormer, one of the finest old buildings in Sussex. I
have an income of eight thousand a year."

"What has this to do with me?"

"Only that I am offering it to you, myself and all I possess. I am
asking you to do me the honour of marrying me. It seems to me that it is
the one and the only atonement that I can make for what has passed."

"You are--very generous! And--and you think that I would accept?"

"I hoped that you might consider the offer."

Slotman gripped at the edge of the table against which he leaned.

He could scarcely believe his own ears--Joan, who had held her head so
high, whom he had believed to be above the breath of suspicion!

If it were possible for such a man as Mr. Philip Slotman to be shocked,
then Slotman was deeply shocked at this moment. He had come to regard
Joan as something infinitely superior to himself. Self-indulgent, a
libertine, he had pursued her with his attentions, pestered her with his
admiration and his offensive compliments. Then it had slowly dawned on
the brain of Mr. Philip Slotman that this girl was something better,
higher, purer than most women he had known. He had come to realise it
little by little. His fe