"I was sorely afraid to lose him, Earle Moray. "'But what will become of me when my parents find it out?' I asked. "'They need never find it out. When they seem to like me a little better, we will tell them. No one knows what an excellent thing it is to make one's self master of the situation. Once done, we cannot be expected to undo it, and after a few days they will say that we were naughty; but they will forgive us when they are quite sure that being angry is of no use.' "Those were weak arguments, Earle Moray, to lead a girl away from her duty. They seem to me so now, though then I fancied them full of wisest sense. I destroyed myself when I looked up into his face, and said; "'But even if I were willing, how could it be managed, Ulric?' "He clasped me in his arms. "'Only say that you are willing, that is enough. I shall go mad with joy! Estelle, say that you are willing, and leave the preliminaries to me.' "He looked so eager, so handsome; I was so weak and young. I loved him so dearly, all higher and better considerations faded away--I promised." She buried her face in her hands, and Earle saw the tears fall through her slender, jeweled fingers. He saw the fragile figure torn with deep, convulsive sobs, yet he did not dare comfort her. He fell that, for such a wrong as she had committed, there could be no pardon from those she had deceived. Yet his feeling of compassion for her was so strong that he could not refrain from showing her some sympathy. He laid his hand gently on her arm. "Dear Lady Hereford," he said, "I wish that I knew how to comfort you." "You cannot," she replied; "there can be no consolation for sins like mine. Oh! Earle Moray, you see that I am speaking to you as though I had known you for years. It is because you love Doris. Can you think, can you imagine how I came to be so foolish?--so mad, it seems to me, looking back on my past. Incredible! Young, gifted, with everything to make life desirable, that I should wreck myself, turn every blessing into a curse! It is incredible to me, I cannot believe it; yet I have done it. I need not tire you with details. I have dwelt longer than I need have done on my temptations, because I want you, who love Doris so dearly, to think the best which is possible of me. Do you agree to that? Will you try?" "Most certainly I will, dear Lady Hereford. Who am I, that I should sit in judgment over you?" "I am ashamed to tell you the rest," she said, in a wailing tone. "It is a story that would disgrace the humblest beggar--think how it humiliates me, the sole daughter of one of the proudest houses in the land. No Studleigh ever failed for want of determination. The more and the greater the obstacles that rose in my lover's way, the more valiantly he overcame them. I am too ignorant even to explain _how_ he arranged it--everything gives way to money, I suppose--the obstacles he encountered did. I only know two things for certain--we were married, and our marriage was legal."