"
"No, it is--quite true--I did run away with him; but oh! indeed,
indeed I left him again before--before--"
"Yes, yes," said Barnabas, a little hurriedly, aware that her face
was still hidden in her hands, though he kept his eyes studiously
averted. Then all at once she was beside him, her hands were upon
his arm, pleading, compelling; and thus she forced him to look at her,
and, though her cheeks yet burned, her eyes met his, frank and
unashamed.
"Sir," said she, "you do believe that I--that I found him out in
time--that I--escaped his vileness--you must believe--you shall!"
and her slender fingers tightened on his arm. "Oh, tell me--tell me,
you believe!"
"Yes," said Barnabas, looking down into the troubled depths of her
eyes; "yes, I do believe."
The compelling hands dropped from his arm, and she stood before him,
staring out blindly into the glory of the morning; and Barnabas
could not but see how the tears glistened under her lashes; also he
noticed how her brown, shapely hands griped and wrung each other.
"Sir," said she suddenly; "you are a friend of--Viscount Devenham."
"I count myself so fortunate.
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