She sank back upon the couch, these words barely audible, and I drew a deep breath, hardly knowing where to begin.
"I am a Federal officer, Miss Hardy, and my uniform is no passport to your favor, yet that is no reason you should be unjust. I do not think I have ever been guilty of but one ungentlemanly act toward you, and that was unavoidable--I mean listening to your conversation with Captain Le Gaire."
She shuddered, and gave utterance to a little cry.
"I loved you; with all my heart I loved you," I went on swiftly, driven by a sudden rush of passion. "What you said then gave me a right to tell you so."
"And was it because I was unwilling to listen that--that you did what you did later?" she broke in hastily.
"Did later! You mean that I consented to meet Le Gaire?"
"Yes--that you compelled him to fight you; that you--Oh, God! Why bring this all up again?"
"Merely because nothing occurred of which I am ashamed. Without doubt it was my love for you which caused the trouble. But I was not the aggressor. Did you suppose otherwise? Le Gaire deliberately struck me across the face."
She rose again to her feet, her cheeks blazing.
"It was the answer of a gentleman to an insult given the woman he was to marry," proudly.