But," he added, "this is not the first time we've discussed this question, Gabrielle dear.

You are my daughter, and I trust you.

Do not, child, misjudge me by suspecting that I doubt your loyalty." "I don't, dad; only sometimes I----" "Sometimes you think," he said, still stroking her hair--"you think that I ought to tell you the reason I receive all these reports from Paris, and their real significance.

Well, to tell the truth, dear, it is best that you should not know.

If you reflect for a moment," went on the old man, tears welling slowly in his filmy, sightless eyes, "you will realise my unhappy situation--how I am compelled to hide my affairs even from Lady Heyburn herself.