"What secret?" And for all his wildness about Gareth and for all his mad rage, my words had touched a secret thought which drove the colour from his tawny face and brought a fear of me into his eyes—fear it was, unmistakably.
"It is enough that I know it," I answered, so curtly and with such concentration that he dropped his eyes as though I might read some secret in them.
I would have given all I was worth to have known what was in his mind at that instant.
In the pause that followed, I heard some one descending the stairs. I knew it must be Karl; and then a daring thought suggested itself.
"You must go, now; I will come to you."
He looked up at me searchingly and keenly, and rose slowly.
"I will go," he said. "I shall see you to-morrow. For God's sake."
"I will come to you. You trust me?"
"I am getting afraid of you—but I trust you."
"I will put that trust to the test now. Count Karl will go with you to your house until to-morrow."