The Marriage of William Ashe

by Mrs. Humphry Ward

"About your literary work?"

She threw him a quick glance.

"Do you know? How do you know? I have been writing a book!"

"So I imagined—"

"And—and—" She broke now into eagerness, bending forward, "I want you to help me get it published. It is a deadly secret. Nobody knows—"

"Not even William?"

"No one," she repeated. "And I can't tell you about it, or show you a line of it, unless you vow and swear to me—"

"Oh! I swear," said Darrell, tranquilly—"I swear."

Kitty looked at him doubtfully a moment—then resumed:

"I have written it at all sorts of times—when William was away—in the middle of the night—out in the woods. Nobody knows. You see"—her little fingers plucked at the moss—"I have a good many advantages. If people want 'Society' with a big S, I can give it them!"