"You were there?" she repeated, with more suspicion now than unbelief.
"In that room at the top of the tower; yes; by accident," he answered in
a tone calculated to reassure her.
"Then you know--you saw what happened?"
He bowed his head in assent. "Enough to be sure that Mr. Clement Henshaw
was a great scoundrel, and that his fate was not altogether unmerited.
Now," he added in a tone of decision, "you will have nothing more to do
with this Gervase Henshaw, or he with you."
It was good to see the eager relief in Edith Morriston's eyes.
"And you never told me this before," she said.
"I could not very well," he replied. "And I should not have told you now
had I not been forced to protect you from this man. It is a dangerous
position for me to stand in, and I should in ordinary circumstances have
let the affair remain a mystery."
"I understand your position," she responded, with a look of gratitude.
"But you can trust me."
"Indeed I can," he assured her with infinite content.
"I don't realize it now," the girl said, with signs that she was fighting
against the effect of the reaction. "Can you trust me enough to tell me
how it all happened?"
"I would trust you with my life," he responded fervently.
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