'Weak in body, Mirelle—not weak in character.'
'No; I will always do my duty, as I see it.'
'You are too inexperienced to be left alone.'
'I have Orange with me.'
'But what is Orange as an adviser? You confessed as much just now when you admitted you were without a guide. Mirelle! I am sure Orange does not like you. She is'—he was about to add 'jealous,' but he checked himself—'she is not a desirable person to have about you perpetually. I do not trust her sincerity.'
'I do. I have never done anything to make her dislike me.'
He remained silent. It was difficult for him to speak the truth, and yet it must be spoken for her sake.
'Orange is strongly attached to Captain Trecarrel; that you know,' said Herring. 'Now a loving woman is a suspicious woman. He will not renew his engagement with her, he shirks doing so; and she seeks an explanation of his conduct, and finds it where she has no right to look for it.'
Mirelle turned her face to Herring.
'I told you all, that evening after we had been married. You know that something passed between him and me, not much, just enough to——'