onor. And now _that_ is in danger. Yes, if you put your clever
little questions, with those lovely eyes and with that gentle voice, I
know what will happen. You will deprive me of the last and best of all
my possessions. Have I deserved to be treated in that way, and by you,
my charming friend?--by you, of all people in the world? Oh, fie! fie!"

He paused and looked at me as before--the picture of artless entreaty,
with his head a little on one side. I made another attempt to speak
of the matter in dispute between us, from my own point of view. Major
Fitz-David instantly threw himself prostrate on my mercy more innocently
than ever.

"Ask of me anything else in the wide world," he said; "but don't ask me
to be false to my friend. Spare me _that_--and there is nothing I will
not do to satisfy you. I mean what I say, mind!" he went on, bending
closer to me, and speaking more seriously than he had spoken yet "I
think you are very hardly used. It is monstrous to expect that a woman,
placed in your situation, will consent to be left for the rest of her
life in the dark. No! no! if I saw you, at this moment, on the point
of finding out for yourself what Eustace persists in hiding from you, I
should remember that my promise, like all other promises, has its
limits and reserves. I should consider myself bound in honor not to help
you--but I would not lift a finger to prevent you from discovering the
truth for yourself."

At last he was speaking in good earnest: he laid a strong emphasis on
his closing words. I laid a stronger emphasis on them still by suddenly
leaving my chair. The impulse to spring to my feet was irresistible.
Major Fitz-David had started a new idea in my mind.

"Now we understand each other!" I said. "I will accept your own terms,
Major. I will ask nothing of you but what you have just offered to me of
your own accord."

"What have I offered?" he inquired, looking a little alarmed.

"Nothing that you need repent of," I answered; "nothing which is not
easy for you to grant. May I ask a bold question? Suppose this house was
mine instead of yours?"

"Consider it yours," cried the gallant old gentleman. "From the garret
to the kitchen, consider it yours!"

"A thousand thanks, Major; I will consider it mine for the moment.
You know--everybody knows--that one of a woman's many weaknesses is
curiosity. Suppose my curiosity led me to examine everything in my new
house?"

"Yes?"

"Suppose I went from roo