The handsome young woman, who had scarcely looked at him before, turned her eyes toward him at that cry, and recoiled with a stifled shriek of unutterable dismay.
Clifford Standish came close up to her, muttering:
"Azuba, what are you doing here?"
The woman's face became death-white with sudden fear, and lifting her hand warningly, she almost, hissed:
"Hush! breathe not that name beneath this roof! It is not my name now!"
"Another alias, then," he muttered. "What is it now?"
Her reply came with a groan:
"What does that matter to you? I am done with you and the past forever—I am trying to lead an honest life and earn an honest, respectable living. For Heaven's sake, do not betray me to these people!"
"What are you doing here?"
"I am governess to Mrs. Fitzgerald's children. I am trusted and liked by the whole family, and I try to deserve it. Will you go away, and leave me in peace to my new life?" she prayed, with clasped hands, her large blue eyes swimming in frightened, beseeching tears.