"I believe it. I maintained it against my father, against all the sneers and reproaches that he heaped upon your name. But when day after day passed, and I heard nothing from you, what was I to believe? What am I to believe now, finding you in my father's office and in disguise?"
For the space of a moment Frank stood gazing upon her beautiful form in a maze of perplexity and doubt.
What should he do? What should he say?
To betray his plans to the daughter of his enemy was to frustrate them. He could see it at a glance.
"Hook was right," he thought, bitterly. "I have made a mistake. I ought not to have come at all."
He gazed sadly upon the girl for an instant, and then taking his hat from the table upon which he had thrown it, motioned to withdraw.
"Edna, I—I——"
He stood hesitating now, his hand upon the knob of the door.
Instantly the girl's manner changed.
Springing forward, she threw herself in the arms of her lover, and burst into a flood of tears.