"Nobody in all the world but you," he declared bravely. It was of no avail, and he knew it, as the keen eyes finally found his own.
"John!" said his mother, "you have not been telling me the truth."
"Well, I know it," said he, calmly, and with far greater happiness. "Of course I haven't. Who said I was? O, Lord! you can't fool a woman any way on earth. Now here—"
"Who is this girl?" asked his mother, with a certain sternness as she gazed at him directly; "for of course I knew very well what was the matter. I suppose I shall have to face this some day, though it has been so long—"
Eddring looked her straight in the face in return, and this time without flinching.
"The dearest girl in the world," said he. "But I reckon she's not for me."
"Who is she? Where is she? Where did you meet her? Have you a picture?"
"I don't need one."
"What's her name—her family? Of course—"
"She hasn't any family. I don't know where she came from."