He had not heard her approach, but at her touch he turned from the papers.
“Well, my sweetheart, what is it?” he said, and with averted face she whispered:
“Only that––I love you!––no,” as he bent towards her, “don’t kiss me! I never knew––I never guessed.”
“Never guessed that you loved me?” he asked, regarding her with a quizzical smile. “Now, I guessed it all the time, even though you did run away from me.”
“No, no, it is not that!” and she moved away, out of the reach of his caressing hands. “But I was there, by the window; I heard all that story. I had heard it long ago, and I thought you were to blame. I judged you––condemned you! Now I see how wrong I was––wrong in every way––in every way. I have wronged you––you! Oh, how I have wronged you!” she whispered, under her breath, as she remembered the men she looked for, had sent for––the men who were to take him away a prisoner!
“Nonsense, dear!” and he clasped her hands and smiled at her reassuringly. “You are over-wrought by all the excitement here since yesterday; you are nervous and remorseful over a trifle; you could not wrong me in any way; if you did, I forgive you.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head and gazing at him with eyes more sad than he had ever seen them; “no, you would not forgive me if you knew; you never will forgive me when you do know. And––I must tell you––tell you everything––tell you now––”
“No, not now, Judithe,” he said, as he heard Masterson’s voice in the hall. “We can’t be alone now. Later you shall tell me all your sins against me.” He was walking 374 with her to the door and looking down at her with all his heart in his eyes; his tenderness made her sorrows all the more terrible, and as he bent to kiss her she shrunk from him.
“No, not until I tell you all,” she said again, then as his hands touched hers she suddenly pressed them to her lips, her eyes, her cheek; “and whatever you think of me then, when you do hear all, I want you to know that I love you, I love you, I love you!”
Then the door closed behind her and he was standing there with a puzzled frown between his eyes when Masterson entered. Her intense agitation, the passion in her words and her eyes!––He felt inclined to follow and end the mystery of it at once, but Masterson’s voice stopped him.