Then, with a great effort, I braced myself up, and told her everything. She listened with ever-growing astonishment, and when I had finished she slipped down from my knee and sank upon the hearthrug.
"Poor papa!" she sobbed. "No wonder you hate that Rupert! Beast! Oh, Hugh, Hugh, why could you not tell me before? I ought to have known," she added, reproachfully.
"It could have done no good," I answered.
A wave of sudden anxiety passed across her face.
"Oh, Hugh!" she sobbed. "Char—— Mr. Hold——"
"Mr. Holdern knows all about it," I interrupted. "I thought it right to tell him when he asked me for you."
A great relief brightened her face, and she smiled through her tears. Even a woman is selfish when she is in love.
"I am glad he knows," she whispered, looking into the fire. "How strange it all seems! Why our name is Devereux; you will be Sir Hugh Devereux. Why, Hugh, Devereux Court will be yours some day!"
"Never!" I answered, firmly; "until Sir Francis asks my father's pardon, and receives him as a son, I shall never take the name of Devereux or enter the Court. I have sworn it, Marian."
"And it was noble of you to swear it, Hugh," she whispered, coming over and kissing me. "They say truth always comes out some time or other. Perhaps this will all come right some day."