She gave a sharp, searching look, and then went on.
"I am, as you see, entirely dependent on you."
I was silent.
"As far as I know there is but one man in whom I can trust. He—he has asked me to be his wife. He does not know that I have taken this step." She said this in a constrained, hesitating way, as though she were afraid to utter the words.
"Do you wish to be John Polperro's wife?" I stammered awkwardly. "That is, would you under ordinary circumstances choose him for your husband? Is he to you the man above all others?"
"You are a stranger to me," she went on, as though I had not spoken. "Until that night when you climbed to the housetop at Endellion I had never seen you, never heard of you. I have no claim on you save the claim that any gentlewoman who is in trouble has upon a man of honour."
"Be that as it may," I replied, "all I have and am are at your service. I will take you whither you will." This I said, I am afraid, with a sigh, for I realized that after I had taken her to Polperro my work would be done. I must leave her, perchance never to see her again.
"I may trust you fully then?"
"Fully."