'No, but I was engaged to be married.'
'Did Mary know anything of this?'
'Nothing of that engagement, and but little, I think, of the attachment that grew up in my heart for her. I kept that to myself.'
'She was too young,' said the wise colonel, 'to think of such things then; and even now I do not see why you should have left us as you did.'
Sir Clement rose to his feet and paced the room in great agitation.
'It is hard,' he said at last, 'to speak of such a thing to another man. But let me tell you, Abinger, that when I was with you three years ago there were times when I thought I would lose my reason. Do you know what it is to have such a passion as that raging in your heart and yet have to stifle it? There were whole nights when I walked up and down my room till dawn. I trembled every time I saw Miss Abinger alone lest I should say that to her which I had no right to say. Her voice alone was sufficient to unman me. I felt that my only safety was in flight.'
'I have run away from a woman myself in my time,' the colonel said, with a grim chuckle. 'There are occasions when it is the one thing to do, but this was surely not one of them, if Mary knew nothing.'
'Sometimes I feared she did know that I cared for her. That is a hard thing to conceal, and, besides, I suppose I felt so wretched that I was not in a condition to act rationally. When I left the castle that day I had not the least intention of not returning.'
'And since then you have been half round the world again? Are you married?'
'No.'