atisfaction--long, sweet kisses which she
reciprocated with a whole-heartedness that told him of her devotion.
There, in the shadow, he whispered to her his love, repeating what he
had told her in London, and again in Monte Carlo.

Suddenly he put a question to her:

"Do you really believe I am innocent of the charge against me, darling?"

"I do, Hugh," she answered frankly.

"Ah! Thank you for those words," he said, in a broken voice. "I feared
that you might think because of my flight that I was guilty."

"I know you are not. Mother, of course, says all sorts of nasty
things--that you must have done something very wrong--and all that."

"My escape certainly gives colour to the belief that I am in fear of
arrest. And so I am. Yet I swear that I never attempted to harm the lady
at the Villa Amette."

"But why did you go there at all, dear?" the girl asked. "You surely
knew the unenviable reputation borne by that woman!"

"I know it quite well," he said. "I expected to meet an
adventuress--but, on the contrary, I met a real good woman!"

"I don't understand you, Hugh," she said.

"No, darling. You, of course, cannot understand!" he exclaimed. "I admit
that I followed her home, and I demanded an interview."

"Why?"

"Because I was determined she should divulge to me a secret of her own."

"What secret?"

"One that concerns my whole future."

"Cannot you tell me what it is?" she asked, looking into his face, which
in the moonlight she saw was much changed, for it was unusually pale and
haggard.

"I--well--at the present moment I am myself mystified, darling. Hence I
cannot explain the truth," he replied. "Will you trust me if I promise
to tell you the whole facts as soon as I have learnt them? One day I
hope I shall know all, yet----"

"Yes--yet--what?"

He drew a deep breath.

"The poor unfortunate lady has lost her reason as the result of the
attempt upon her life. Therefore, after all, I may never be in a
position to know the truth which died upon her lips."

For nearly two hours the pair remained together. Often she was locked in
her lover's arms, heedless of everything save her unbounded joy at his
return, and of the fierce, passionate caresses he bestowed upon her.
Truly, that was a night of supreme delight as they held each other's
hands, and their lips met time after time in ecstasy.

He inquired about George Sherrard, but she said little. She hesitated to
tell him of the incident while f