I could tell by her aroused interest that I was succeeding, while her questions gave me some inkling as to what she had been previously led to believe.

After my account of the duel and Le Gaire's escape I stopped to ask, "Miss Billie, do you believe all this ?" "Oh, I must! You surely would not dare say what you have, unless certain my father would sustain you." "But is it hard to believe ?" "Yes and no.

I--I wish to believe, because--well, because it is so disagreeable to lose confidence in any one who has been esteemed as a friend.

Perhaps I am too loyal, too easily convinced.

But--but I was told such a different story, and it seemed so real, and every fact with which I was acquainted appeared to confirm it.