"Evelyn," I said, "you remember Herod's promise to give the daughter of Herodias whatever she asked for; and you remember why he kept that promise, even when the keeping of it made him commit murder."
"Yes," she said; "doesn't it say it was because of his oath's sake; I suppose Herod did not like to break his word."
"And Evelyn," I said, "there is another reason given; do you remember what comes next?"
"No; what is it?" she asked.
"And because of 'them which sat with him at meat.' I think that was the real reason why Herod kept his word. It was not because he minded breaking his promise—he was not the kind of man to mind that—but it was because he was afraid of what his friends might say or think; he may have thought, too, that his wife would never forgive him, and so he kept his promise, and cut off John Baptist's head—he was not brave enough to do what he knew was right."
Evelyn covered her face with her hands and cried.
I sat beside her and put my arm round her, and we sat thus for some time in silence.
Then she suddenly jumped up, went to the table, opened her portfolio, and began to write.
"I am going to be very brave, May," she said, as she smiled through her tears.
What Evelyn said to her cousin I do not know, but she cried a great deal whilst she was writing it. Then she slipped the letter into her pocket.