"I am afraid it was," she said reluctantly, her tenderness and her conviction fighting an even battle in her heart. "But why wouldn't you tell me, dear?"
"Because I was a fool," he said, cursing himself for that same folly. "You were away in London just then, you remember?"
She nodded.
"And there was no one to advise me, except Challoner."
"Sir Humphrey? Then it was he?..."
Philip looked at her in astonishment. There was such a strange quiver in her voice; a note of deep anxiety, of almost hysterical alarm. But she checked herself quickly, and said more calmly,—
"What did Sir Humphrey Challoner advise you to do?"
"He said that Charles Edward would surely persuade me to join his standard, that he would demand shelter at Stretton Hall, and claim my allegiance."
"Yes, yes?"
"And he thought that it would be wiser for me to put two or three counties between myself and the temptation of becoming a rebel."