"Sandro!" cried Peaches. "Why do you pretend? I know you—I know. You couldn't fool me now! My dear, I thought that you were dead. But even on the day we got here I knew you—I knew you in the hall, that first moment. Oh, why do you keep away from me like that? Don't you love me—don't you want me? Why do you pretend?"
"Don't! Please!" he entreated. "Miss Pegg, I—am just a servant in this house!"
"I don't care what you are!" she cried recklessly. "You are Sandy. I know you and I love you."
"My God!" he said, the familiar pet name striking home at last. "Don't! You cannot understand my position. I tell you I am a servant. It is some chance resemblance."
She switched on the main light then and came nearer, scanning his face closely. His hands clenched at his sides, but otherwise he remained immovable.
"You cannot make me doubt," she said at length. "You are Sandro di Monteventi, who was reported killed at——"
"Miss Pegg—don't make it too hard!" he said humbly. "Will you not accept my statement and let me go?
"No!" she said fiercely. "Because I know who you are—and because I know that you love me. There! I have told the truth!"
"It is true that I love you," he admitted. "One need not have seen you for longer than a day for that. But why do you persist I am this stranger?"
"Because I know it!" she declared.