"Were you"—he hesitated a moment—"were you engaged to him, Hermia?"

She gazed at him wide-eyed.

"Never," she asserted, and then repeated, "Never, never, never!"

"But the newspapers—"

"O Philidor! How could I have been engaged to Trevvy when I—I was already engaged to you?"

"Engaged."

"Yes, promised. After the forest at Sées I knew it then. I could never have loved anyone else. Why, Philidor, you held me like this, and kissed me—"

"You loved me then—and before—?"

She hesitated demurely.

"Yes—before."