"And he is not a stranger to you, this man? I thought it must be so the first moment I met him--Johanna--" his voice trembled in feverish excitement--"and what relation does Alison stand to you? What right has he over you?"
"I am his betrothed."
The flush vanished from his face, quickly as it had come, and a deep pallor look its place.
"His betrothed!" repeated he in a hollow voice.
"And do you love him?"
"No!"
"And still have you given him your promise--your future?"
There lay a bitter lament in this reproach. Jane's glance fell. "I have done so," she replied in a low voice.
"Then would to God we had never met!" said Walter despairingly.
Jane was silent for a moment "And why?" she asked at length almost inaudibly.