"You are very good—I feel your delicacy," she said. "You are loyal and noble; but I must tell you my secret, and my story is not a short one. I am tired; can I rest while I tell it to you?"
In less time than it took her to ask the question, he had cleared away the creeping moss and trailing leaves from the fallen trunk of a tree.
"It is a rude resting-place," he said.
But Lady Estelle seemed grateful enough for it. She drew aside the rich silk and velvet.
"Sit down by my side," she said, gently.
He would have remained at a distance; but, with a little, graceful gesture, as of one used to command, she called him to her.
"Sit down here," she said, and he had no resource but to obey her.
Then again she was silent for some minutes; her face wore a dreamy, musing expression.
"What a strange fate!" she said. "After keeping my secret for all these years—after guarding it jealously as my life—after sacrificing only Heaven knows what to it—I tell it to you, to you, young, loyal, true-hearted—you who love Doris! There is a terrible irony, after all, in fate!"