“Of course it is a change, dear love; but it cannot be any risk when you have a man of honor to deal with, and know yourself to be truly valued and beloved.”
“Yes,” she said desperately; “but I am afraid I shall often trouble about that lady I saw at Borton Hall.”
Colonel Dacre changed color visibly.
“I thought you had promised me never to think about or mention her again, Gwen? I do solemnly swear over again that no woman living, excepting yourself, can ever say that I have asked her to be my wife. I had a good many foolish fancies as a lad, but none of them went as far as that.”
“Was she one of your foolish fancies?” inquired Lady Gwendolyn hesitatingly.
“I don’t know whom you mean by she, but I can answer for it that my ‘foolish fancies’ are all married, and the mothers of families by this time.”
“Then you haven’t had any lately?” she asked, with timid but anxious earnestness.
“Not for the last ten years, on my word.”
“And the lady at Borton——” she persisted.
“Was a myth, or an impostor, and need not trouble you for a moment.”