a man for any discomfort he
is undergoing it would be an abnormal being who did not get out of it
all that he could. And Sally, with her hair escaping from under her
cap in soft little tendrils, her blue eyes wet with tears of
compassion like violets drenched with dew, made a bewitching picture.
So Clifford pulled a long face, and said lugubriously:

"It's pretty bad, mistress."

"Oh!" she cried. "I wish I could help thee. 'Tis monstrously cruel to
use thee so! Yet thee would not listen to me if thee were not bound;
would thee?"

"Perchance 'twould be best to take advantage of the fact, and tell me
what you have come to say," he suggested with the hint of a smile.

And rapidly Sally told him how the wretched mistake had occurred which
led him to disbelieve her truthfulness. She told also of the Council
and what had happened before it. All this part he had heard from Mr.
Owen, though he did not tell her.

"And now," she ended with a deep sigh of relief, "thee knows at last
just how the matter was."

"Well? And what then?" Clifford was smiling now. "Now you wish me to
acknowledge how wrong I was, I suppose?"

"Nay," spoke Sally rising. "I did not want anything except for thee to
hear the facts. 'Twould be too much to ask of an Englishman to admit
that he was wrong. 'Tis a national characteristic to persist in
wrong-doing, and wrong believing even when the right is made plain.
Had this not been the case we should not have had to go through all
these weary years of fighting."

"'Fore George, Mistress Sally, but you hit from the shoulder! Now here
is one Englishman who is going to prove that you are mistaken. It was
unjust of me to believe that you could be capable of treachery. I
crave your pardon most humbly. I believe that you did your best to
help me last spring. These past few days, since I have known that
death is so close, have made me look differently at many things. If
you think of me at all in future, Miss Sally, let it be as gently as
you can."

He rose as he finished speaking, lightly throwing aside the cords that
confined his wrists and ankles, and held out his hand to her with his
most winning smile. Much moved Sally placed her hand within his; then,
with an exclamation, she withdrew it suddenly.

"Why!" she cried. "Why, thee isn't bound at all!"

"No? Well, you see I understood that you would not dare to come in
unless I was bound. Of course, rather than cause you annoyance I had
to pretend to b