"Then it was very wrong of you to let me live on in ignorance of my real position. You were making yourself the accomplice of Mr. Kelvin."
"Granted. But I had very special reasons for acting as I did. I suspected the existence of some plot or scheme against you which I was desirous of fathoming. Besides, I could not find in my heart to be the one to strike the cruel blow that would deprive you of name and fortune, and shake the very foundations of your life."
"The cruelty lay in not telling me. You did me a great injustice, and, at the same time, you deeply wronged Mr. Warburton the real heir."
"Oh, if Mr. Warburton's anything like a decent sort of fellow, he won't mind a bit when it's all explained to him," said Gerald, with a twinkle in his eye.
Eleanor looked excessively pained. "You talk so strangely," she said in a faltering voice, "that I hardly understand you."
Gerald's arm went round her waist, and before she could offer any resistance half a score kisses had been rained on her cheeks.
"Oh! my darling," he cried, "cannot you see through it? Cannot you understand it all? I--I am Gerald Warburton!"
"You Gerald Warburton!" she said, as if repeating the words mechanically after him, but without comprehending what they meant. She put his arm aside, and stood up and stared into his face, as she might have stared had she been walking in her sleep, and were now coming back to consciousness.
"You Gerald Warburton!"
He drew her down gently on to the seat again, and made one of her hands a prisoner in his.