"Not for one moment, dearest," he hastened to reply.
"You will easily see my reason for not intending to tell you this."
"I do, Jessie; and honour you, my love, all the more for your consideration."
"But the thought that flashed into my mind, when you told me of how your secret had somehow got known, was, could Barton in any way have become the possessor of that information, and in a fit of jealousy written the letter to England?"
"Such a thing may have been possible, but I scarcely like to regard it as probable," was Fellows' candid rejoinder.
Presently he added, "But say nothing about this to anyone, Jessie, at present, as it is a circumstance which will bear thinking about, and I will turn it over in my mind and see what is to be made out of it."
And with this understanding they parted.
CHAPTER XXV.
THE BROADSTONE DECISION.
"Let's make the best of it."—Coriolanus, Act V. sc. v.