"Do you care so much?" and there was a touch of wistfulness in her voice.
"So much! Why, you know. You have been the only thing I've cared for—for months. Why, you—-you are everything to me. I'm not a clever fellow, I know that—but—but—I can fight, Nancy. And it's all for you."
Nancy stood still a few seconds, evidently fighting with herself. She knew she could not in honour promise even what Trevanion had asked for without telling him the truth. And this was terribly difficult. She felt that he had a right to know, and yet it was like sacrilege to tell him.
"You see," went on the Captain, "your father——!"
"Stop!" cried the girl; "before you say any more, I must tell you something. It's very hard, but I must. I said there was no one else, but that's not—true."
"Not true! Then, then——"
"There was some one else, although it's—all over."
"But, but who? No, forgive me for asking. I've no right to ask.
Besides, you say—that—that it's a thing of the past."
"You have a right to ask if—if——"
"If what? Tell me who—if you think it fair of me to ask."