"Then you can feel for me," I said, "for I love Naomi Penryn. I shall love her till I die, and if she be dead, I shall want to die, too."
Then the girl gave a heartrending cry. "Don't, Jasper Pennington," she said, "don't!"
I looked around me and saw that Eli had wandered toward the Porth. I was glad for this, for I realised what her words meant.
"Tamsin Truscott," I said, "I never had a sister; will you be one to me? For I love you as truly as ever brother loved sister. Can you care for me as a sister cares for a brother?"
I said this because I wanted to be true to Naomi, and because I determined to dispel from Tamsin's mind all thoughts of me as one who could ever love her. I wanted to appeal to all that was best and truest in her, too, believing, as I have always believed, that by this means alone can we get the best that people are capable of giving.
For some minutes she seemed like one fighting a great battle, then she said quietly, "Yes, Jasper Pennington, I will do for you all that a sister would do."
"Then, Tamsin," I said, "if it should please God to let me find my love, would you befriend her?"
"Yes," she gasped.
"It seems as though she hath many enemies," I went on, "and there be many who plot against her. If I find her among friends all may be well, but if I were to find her among enemies and rescue her, I know of no place to take her where she would be safe."
For a little while Tamsin sobbed as though her heart would break; and at that time I thought it was because she pitied both me and Naomi.