He was watching her changing face with eager anxiety as to what she was going to say to him now, and suddenly he saw it brighten with a thought he could not fathom.
There had flashed over Geraldine a remembrance of his last words:
"What could I do in my despair but oppose cunning to cunning, and fraud to fraud?"
Her sombre eyes brightened as she thought:
"He has taught me a lesson that I will profit by. Perhaps I can thus throw him off his guard."
Standish exclaimed, eagerly and curiously:
"What have you to say, Geraldine, to my story? Will you accept it for the truth, and renew your faith in my love and honor?"
Duplicity was a stranger to Geraldine's nature, and it was hard indeed to act the part she was planning, but her stage training enabled her to carry it off superbly.
Her lovely face softened inexpressibly, and she looked up at him with a shy yet tender glance that thrilled him with hope.
"Oh, what a strange story you have told me!" she twittered, sweetly, and added: "How can you forgive me for my unfaith?"