"I will ask nothing just now, except that you will take my arm, and allow me to be your escort. This is a lonely road."
"It suits me the better, then!"
He waited a minute more, and, with gentle force, undid her right hand from its hold upon its fellow, and drew it within his arm.
"I see that my society is unwelcome, Jessie, but it is not right for you to be so far from home at this time of day without a protector. I shall not compel your confidence. When you are ready to give it, my sympathies or services are at your command, as they have always been since I became your guardian in the absence and with the sanction of my cousin."
The hot sparkle was a blaze as she looked up.
"Yes! and you, too, must have known it! You, who pretend to be my friend! My trust has been blind and foolish throughout. You were ready enough to counsel and warn me about other things. Why did you never tell me of Roy Fordham's former engagement? of the love-affair (save the mark!) that clashed with mine? You have said again and again that you respected me—that my happiness was of value in your estimation. Did not respect or humanity urge you to spare me this bitter humiliation?"
Unaffectedly amazed though he was at the onslaught and the information she imparted, Orrin yet refrained from explicit denial.
"Who has been talking to you?" he asked, instead.
She dashed through the story in the same impetuous strain, ending it with—"He ought to have told me this, and so ought you! I can forgive anything but deliberate deception."
Orrin mused.