Do you agree with me, Miss Morse ?" "I suppose so," she faltered.
"That is why," he added, "it was painful to me to see you stand there before those men, answering their questions,--men whose walk in life was different, of an order removed from yours, who should not even have been permitted to approach you upon bended knees.

Do not think that I am suggesting any fault to you--do not think that I am forcing your confidence in any way.

But these are the thoughts which came to me only a little time ago." She was silent.

They listened together to the splashing of the water.
What was the special gift, she wondered, which gave this man such insight?
She felt her heart beating; she was conscious that he was looking at her.

He knew already that it was through her medium that those despatches which never reached London were to have been handed on to their destination! He must know that she was to some extent in the confidence of her country's Ambassador! Perhaps he knew, too, those other thoughts which were in her mind,--knew that it had been her deliberate intent to deceive him, to pluck those secrets which he carried with him, even from his heart! What a fool she had been to dream, for a moment, of measuring her wits against his! He began to speak again, and his voice seemed pitched in lighter key.
"After all," he said, "you must think it strange of me to be so egotistical--to speak all the time so much of my likes and dislikes.