ere flushed.

"I--I do not believe I can tell you that, Lieutenant. You--you see I
am not even sure I know. At first, there in the library, I was
compelled to choose instantly between you, and--and something
infinitely worse. I--I supposed that man Kirby was dead; that--that
you had killed him to save me. I--I looked into your face, and--and it
was a man's face; you said you were an army officer. I--I had to
believe and trust you. There was no other way. Please do not ask me
to explain any more."

"I shall not--only just this. If you actually believed in me, trusted
me, as you say, why should you still claim to be Rene; and continually
remind me there was negro blood in your veins; that you were a negress
and a slave?"

"You think that strange? I did trust you, Lieutenant Knox, and I
trusted you more completely the longer we were together. But--but I
did not wholly understand. You were endeavoring to rescue Rene from
slavery. I could not conceive what interest you might feel if I should
confess myself Eloise. You were strange to me; we were there alone
with the negro, and--and somehow it seemed a protection to me to claim
a drop of black blood. Twice I thought to tell you--the words were on
my lips--but something stopped them. Possibly, just a little, I was
afraid of you."

"Then--but not now?"

"No, not now--not even a little; you have proven yourself all I ever
hoped you would be. I am glad--so glad--to say to you now, I am Eloise
Beau--"

She stopped suddenly, the word half uttered, the smile fading from her
lips. She withdrew her hands from my clasp and pressed them over her
eyes.

"My God!" she burst forth. "But I am not! I am not! Why, I never
felt the horror of it all before--I am not Eloise Beaucaire!"

A moment I stood motionless, seeming to hold my breath, my eyes open,
struck silent by the intense bitterness of that cry. Then the reaction
came, the knowledge that I must turn her thought elsewhere.

"Do not say that, or even think it," I urged, scarcely able to restrain
myself from grasping her in my arms. "Even if it shall prove
true--legally true--some way of escape will be found. The others are
safe, and you are going to need all your courage. Pledge me to forget,
to ignore this thing. I need you."

Her hands fell nerveless and her questioning eyes sought my face. They
were tearless, unabashed.

"You are right, Lieutenant Knox," she said frankly. "I owe my loyalty