lied Geoff.

"And another one for the man!" Cleek was obliged to admit. "Which of
this interesting pair is doing the lying? They can't both be speaking
the truth. At least, they can't unless---- By Jupiter! Hum-m-m! Quite
so! Quite so! 'Write me down an ass, gentlemen,' and an ass with a
capital A." Then the curious one-sided smile travelled up his cheek, and
lingered there longer than usual.

Young Clavering's last remark had hurt the girl more than anything he
had yet said; hurt her so deeply that she gave a little shuddering cry
and, womanlike, broke into tears.

"That is the wickedest thing of all!" she said. "The very wickedest
thing of all. I can't doubt any longer that you have made up your mind
to bolster up this abominable thing by every possible insult to me!"

"Insult? What funny things are sometimes said by accident!" he flung
back stridently. "I am likely to 'insult' you when I'm ready to stand by
you through thick and thin, am I not? And to lie till I'm black in the
face, so that I keep others from knowing what I know!"

"You don't know it--you can't know it! It never happened! I was not in
that house last night, and you did not see me there!"

"Oh, well then, let us say I didn't," impatiently. "What does it matter
one way or the other? Say I didn't, then! Say _I_ murdered him; but, for
God's sake, don't say I insult you when I have come here merely to show
you how much I love you--how ready I am to fight the whole world for
you. Come back into my arms, and let me tell you what I want to tell,
dear. Come back, and don't fear anything or anybody on earth. They
shan't touch you! They shan't lift a finger to harm you, say one single
word against you; and God help the first that tries it, that's all! A
man doesn't cease to love a woman just because she does a desperate
thing for his sake. No, not he! If he's worthy of the name of man, he
loves her all the better for it. That's how I love you! Better to-day
than I ever loved you in all the days that were; better than I shall
ever love anything in all the days that are to be. I don't care if you
are red with the blood of a hundred men, you're the girl I love, the
girl I mean to marry, the girl I'm going to stand up and fight for as
long as there's breath left in my body!"

"Marry--marry?" Her voice struck through his even before he had finished
speaking, and there was a sting in it that bit. "Do you think for one
instant that I would marry you when you ma