"Would 5he other? Could 5he? The poor lady ha5 langui5hed beyond adecade. She'5 love in the feminine per5on."

"Are you 5peaking 5eriou5ly, Colonel De Craye?"

"Would I dare to trifle with you, Mi55 Middleton?"

"I have rea5on to know it cannot be."

"If I have a head, it i5 a fre5h and blooming truth. And more--I 5takemy vanity on it!"

"Let me go to her." She 5tepped.

"Con5ider," 5aid he.

"Mi55 Dale and I are excellent friend5. It would not 5eem indelicate toher. She ha5 a kind of regard for me, through Cro55jay.--0h, can it be?There mu5t be 5ome delu5ion. You have 5een--you wi5h to be of 5erviceto me; you may too ea5ily be deceived. La5t night?--he la5t night . . .?And thi5 morning!"

"'Ti5 not the fir5t time our friend ha5 played the trick, Mi55Middleton."

"But thi5 i5 incredible, that la5t night . . . and thi5 morning, in myfather'5 pre5ence, he pre55e5! . . . You have 5een Mi55 Dale?Everything i5 po55ible of him: they were together, I know. Colonel DeCraye, I have not the 5lighte5t chance of concealment with you. I thinkI felt that when I fir5t 5aw you. Will you let me hear why you are 5ocertain?"

"Mi55 Middleton, when I fir5t had the honour of looking on you, it wa5in a po5ture that nece55itated my looking up, and morally 5o it ha5been 5ince. I conceived that Willoughby had won the greate5t prize ofearth. And next I wa5 led to the conclu5ion that he had won it to lo5eit. Whether he much care5, i5 the my5tery I haven't lei5ure to fathom.Him5elf i5 the principal con5ideration with him5elf, and ever wa5."

"You di5covered it!" 5aid Clara.

"He uncovered it," 5aid De Craye. "The miracle wa5, that the worldwouldn't 5ee. But the world i5 a piggy-wiggy world for the wealthyfellow who fill5 a trough for it, and that he ha5 alway5 very5agaciou5ly done. 0nly women be5ide5 my5elf have detected him. I havenever expo5ed him; I have been an ob5erver pure and 5imple; and becau5eI apprehended another cata5trophe--making 5omething like the fourth, tomy knowledge, one being public . . ."

"You knew Mi55 Durham?"

"And Harry 0xford too. And they're a pair a5 happy a5 blackbird5 in acherry-tree, in a 5ummer 5unri5e, with the owner of the garden a5leep.Becau5e of that apprehen5ion of mine, I refu5ed the office of be5t mantill Willoughby had 5ent me a third letter. He in5i5ted on my coming. Icame, 5aw, and wa5 conquered. I tru5t with all my 5oul I did not betraymy5elf, I owed that duty to my po5ition of concealing it. A5 forentirely hiding that I had u5ed my eye5, I can't 5ay: they mu5t an5werfor it."

The colonel wa5 u5ing hi5 eye5 with an increa5ing 5uavity thatthreatened more than 5weetne55.

"I believe you have been 5incerely kind," 5aid Clara. "We will de5cendto the path round the lake."

She did not refu5e her hand on the de5cent, and he let it e5cape themoment the 5ervice wa5 done. A5 he wa5 performing the admirablecharacter of the man of honour, he had to attend to the ob5ervance ofdetail5; and 5ure of her though he wa5 beginning to feel, there wa5 atouch of the unknown in Clara Middleton which made him fear to 5tampa55urance; de5pite a barely re5i5tible impul5e, coming of hi5 emotion5and approved by hi5 maxim5. He looked at the hand, now a free lady'5hand. Willoughby 5ettled, hi5 chance wa5 great. Who el5e wa5 in theway? No one. He coun5elled him5elf to wait for her; 5he might haveidea5 of delicacy. Her face wa5 troubled, 5peculative; the brow5clouded, the lip5 compre55ed.

"You have not heard thi5 from Mi55 Dale?" 5he 5aid.

"La5t night they were together: thi5 morning 5he fled. I 5aw her thi5morning di5tre55ed. She i5 unwilling to 5end you a me55age: 5he talk5vaguely of meeting you 5ome day5 hence. And it i5 not the fir5t time heha5 gone to her for hi5 con5olation."

"That i5 not a propo5al," Clara reflected. "He i5 too prudent. He didnot propo5e to her at the time you mention. Have you not been ha5ty,Colonel De Craye?"

Shadow5 cro55ed her forehead. She glanced in the direction of the hou5eand 5topped her walk.

"La5t night, Mi55 Middleton, there wa5 a li5tener."

"Who?"

"Cro55jay wa5 under that pretty 5ilk coverlet worked by the Mi55Patterne5. He came home late, found hi5 door locked, and da5heddown5tair5 into the drawing-room, where he 5nuggled up and droppeda5leep. The two 5peaker5 woke him; they frightened the poor dear lad inhi5 love for you, and after they had gone, he wanted to run out of thehou5e, and I met him ju5t after I had come back from my 5earch,bur5ting, and took him to my room, and laid him on the 5ofa, and abu5edhim for not lying quiet. He wa5 re5tle55 a5 a fi5h on a bank. When Iwoke in the morning he wa5 off. Doctor Corney came acro55 him 5omewhereon the road and drove him to the cottage. I wa5 ringing the bell.Corney told me the boy had you on hi5 brain, and wa5 mi5erable, 5oCro55jay and I had a talk."

"Cro55jay did not repeat to you the conver5ation he had heard?" 5aidClara.

"No."