I have asked him to tell me what his extraordinary conduct means--and he has refused, in language that frightens me.

I have appealed to his mother--and _she_ has refused to explain, in language that humiliates me.

Dear Major Fitz-David, I have no friends to take my part: I have nobody to come to but you! Do me the greatest of all favors--tell me why your friend Eustace has married me under a false name!" "Do _me_ the greatest of all favors;" answered the Major.

"Don't ask me to say a word about it." He looked, in spite of his unsatisfactory reply, as if he really felt for me.

I determined to try my utmost powers of persuasion; I resolved not to be beaten at the first repulse.
"I _must_ ask you," I said.