"I must have all the truth now. If you had not overheard that conversation, you would not have waited for and intercepted me in the grove?" "Certainly not. I wished to see you at once, and before I met father." "Your terrible distress and agitation were solely on his account, and not because of my approaching journey?" "Yes, for father's safety. I was grieved to hear you were going so far away, but, Mr. Noel, father is my all. When I learned of the exposure threatening him I think I must have gone mad, or I should not have made the ghastly mistake of believing you loved me well enough to help me save him, and----" She paused, silenced by the flash in his eyes, the white fury of his face. "You proposed our marriage solely to find an opportunity for getting possession of the papers?" "Yes, that was my object. I thought you would not deny the prayer of your wife." "You have come to my arms with no more love in your heart than when you refused me years ago?" "Yes. In a way I have always been attached to you; I honor, and admire, and trust you fully, and of all men I hold you first--but love! God help me! Perhaps in time I may learn." "You considered yourself the price of the papers, and felt assured I could not refuse to sell? Any man who held them could own you body and soul! Any clodhopper, lout, any libertine, any moral leper could own you for life, in exchange for the papers! You, my white-souled, proud, sensitive, ideal woman, for sale! For sale!" The red spots in her cheeks deepened, and a defiant ring steadied her trembling voice. "As you are the only person who could yield me what I sought, you are the one possible purchaser. But there was an additional reason for my becoming your wife. My grandmother's will requires the estate she gave me kept in the hands of a trustee until I am thirty, unless I marry. In that event I come into immediate unrestricted possession, and I thought if you denied my prayer I would be financially able to buy the papers when you delivered them in my presence. That is the one hope that stands now between me and despair--a hope made possible by and based on my marriage. There was no other door of escape from ruin, and so I sold myself to the one man whom I have always honored and trusted--who I believed would be patient with me. Yes, I sold myself. That you would be deeply aggrieved I knew, because I intended you should learn all the truth to-night. The horror, the hot shame of the last few hours you will never, never understand." "There was, however, solace for you in the possibility that Polar perils might speedily cancel your matrimonial bonds? At least that is one hope I can share with you."