"It has been my life," he said simply.
"I am afraid to tell my father," she confessed.
"Must he know?" Trent asked.
"Yes. I know the whole hideous thing only in the barest outline."
"I shall broach the subject," he said confidently, "after all I have nothing to lose. I go tomorrow anyway."
She hesitated a moment.
"My father may think you are doing it at a price."
"Instead of which I am offering to help you as atonement."
The light died from her eyes and the hope left her heart. Nothing could alter his decision, nothing apparently blot out the past that held them asunder.
The Earl of Rosecarrel heard Anthony Trent's request for a private interview with a rather troubled mind. He had no doubt it had to do with his daughter. He told himself he had been very careless.