not yet entered his mind that possibly she had deceived him from
the first. 'Oh, the stupidity and slowness of these honourable men where
a woman is concerned!' I groaned to myself; but my promise to Gladys kept
me silent.

'It was too bad of her, was it not?' he said, appealing to me for
sympathy; but I turned a deaf ear to this.

'Max, confess that you were wrong not to have taken my advice and gone
down to Bournemouth: you might have spared yourself months of suspense.'

'Do you mean--' And then he reddened and stroked his beard nervously; but
I finished his sentence for him: he should not escape what I had to say
to him.

'It is so much easier to come to an understanding face to face; but you
would not take my advice, and the opportunity is gone. Gladys is in the
turret-room: you could not gain admittance to her without difficulty:
what you have to say must be said by letter; but you might trust that
letter to me, Max.'

He understood me in a moment. I could see the quick look of joy in his
eyes. I had not betrayed Gladys, I had adhered strictly to my word that I
would only speak of Lady Betty's engagement; and with his usual delicacy
Max had put no awkward questions to me: he had respected my scruples, and
kept his burning curiosity to himself. But he would not have been a man
if he had not read some deeper meaning under my silence: he told me
afterwards that the happy look in my eyes told him the truth.

So he merely said very quietly, 'You were right, and I was wrong, Ursula:
I own my fault. But I will write now: I owe Miss Hamilton some
explanation. When the letter is ready, how am I to put it into your
hands?'

'Oh,' I answered in a matter-of-fact way, as though we were speaking of
some ordinary note, and it was not an offer of marriage from a penitent
lover, 'when you have finished talking to Miss Darrell,--you will enjoy
her conversation, I am sure, Max; it will be both pleasant and
profitable,--you might mention casually that there was something you
wanted to say to your niece Ursula, and would she kindly ask that young
person to step down to you for a minute? and then, you see, that little
bit of business will be done.'

'Yes, I see; but--' but here Max hesitated--'but the answer, Ursula?'

'Oh, the answer!' in an off-hand manner; 'you must not be looking for
that yet. My patient must not be hurried or flurried: you must give
her plenty of time. In a day or two--well, perhaps, I might find an
ea