met his eyes
squarely.

"Yes; I knew it some time ago, though perhaps I should have shrunk from
confessing that so frankly, if it hadn't been for last night. But why
were you afraid of telling me, Jack?"

He read surrender in her face and yielding pose, and with a strange
humility that tempered the wild thrill of delight he placed his arm about
her. Then, as she crept closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder,
every feeling was lost in a delirious sense of triumph. It was brief, for
he remembered how he was handicapped, and he held her from him, looking
gravely down at her.

"Dear, there is something to be said."

"Yes," she rejoined with tender mockery; "you either took a great deal
for granted or there was one important thing you were willing to leave in
doubt. Now take my hands and hold them fast. You know I have suffered
something--fears and anxieties because of you--I want to feel safe."

He did as she bade him and she looked up.

"Now listen, Jack dear. All that I have to give, my love, my closest
trust, is yours, and because you said I saved your life, that belongs to
me. I think it's all that matters."

He was silent for a few moments, overwhelmed by a sense of his
responsibility.

"Still," he urged, "you must understand what you are risking. I should
have told you first."

Muriel released her hands, and her glance was grave.

"Yes; you had better continue, Jack. I suppose we must speak of these
things now, and then forget them forever."

"You know what Jernyngham believed of me. I could not marry you with such
a stain on my name; but it will be wiped off in a few more days, and this
I owe to you. It was you who insisted that I should clear myself."

She started.

"Remember that I know nothing, except that you went away."

Prescott told her briefly what he had learned at Navarino and of Wandle's
capture; and her deep satisfaction was obvious.

"I'm so glad!" she exclaimed. "This will make it easier for the others,
though it doesn't affect me. If I had had any doubts, I couldn't have
loved you. But I'm pleased you told me before you were really cleared. To
have waited until everybody knew you were innocent would have looked as
if you were afraid to test my faith in you."

"No," he said; "that couldn't be. I was afraid of your having to make too
heavy a sacrifice; and, unfortunately, there's some risk of that still."

"Go on, Jack."

"I'm far from a rich man, though I never regretted