“I swear on my honour you said naught to Kate you would not have said to a man!” he said quickly.
Letty was staring at him in amazement. “It was not fair!” she said. “You might have told me!”
“Will you let me explain?” he asked. “Won’t you hear me?”
Letty came nearer. “Yes, please explain,” she said in a small tearful voice. “But — but I wish you had trusted me!”
He held out his hand, and she put hers into it. “I wish I had, Letitia. But I had been schooled to tell no secrets. And this one had my life at stake.”
Her lips formed an O. “Tell me!” she begged. “You know I forgive you anything. And I would never, never betray you.”
“Beloved!” He caught her to him. “I hardly dared to think that you could forgive so hateful a deception.”
She hung her head. “You forget — you are the Unknown hero,” she confided shyly.
“There’s very little of the hero about me, child; I’m an escaped Jacobite.”
Her head came up; her eyes sparkled. “And I thought it romantic to elope with that odious Markham!” she cried. “Tell me all about it, please!”