Barbara had a curt, almost rough, manner at times. She was vexed now, and angry with him, so she spoke shortly, ‘I am summoned to Ashburton. That is close to Buckfastleigh, where, you say, you lived, to make my father believe it is your home.’ ‘Yes, Miss Jordan, that is true.’ ‘You have not written to your home since you have been with us. At least—’she hesitated, and slightly coloured—’you have sent no letter by our boy. Perhaps you were afraid to have it known where you are. No doubt you were right. It is essential to you that your presence here should not be known to anyone but your father. A letter might be opened, or let lie about, and so your whereabouts be discovered. Supposing your story to be true, that is how I account for your silence. If it be false——’ ‘It is not false, Miss Jordan.’ ‘I am going to Ashburton, I will assure myself of it there. If it be false I shall break my promise to you, and tell my father everything. I give you fair warning. If it be true——’ ‘It is true, dear young lady.’ ‘Do not be afraid of my disclosing your secret, and putting you in peril.’ ‘I am sure you cannot do that,’ he said, with a smile that was sad. ‘If you go to Buckfastleigh, Miss Jordan, I shall venture to send word by you to my father where I am, that the money is lost, and what I have undertaken.’ Barbara tossed her head, and flashed an indignant glance at him out of her brown eyes. ‘I cannot, I will not be a porter of lies.’ ‘What lies?’ ‘You did not lose the money. Why deceive me? I know your object in lurking here, in the most out-of-the-way nook of England you could find. You think that here you are safe from pursuit. You made up the story to impose on my father, and induce him to engage you. O, you are very honourable! discharging a debt!—I hate crime, but I hate falsehood even more.’ ‘You are mistaken, Miss Jordan. The story is true.’ ‘You have told the whole honest truth?’ ‘I do not profess to have told the whole truth. What I have told has been true, though I have not told all.’ ‘A pinch of truth is often more false than a bushel of lies. It deceives, the other does not.’ ‘It is true that I lost the money confided to me. If you are going to Ashburton, I ask you, as a matter of kindness—I know how kind you can be, alas, and I know also how cruel—to see my father.’ She laughed haughtily. ‘This is a fine proposition. The servant sends the mistress to do his dirty work. I thank you for the honour.’ She turned angrily away. ‘Miss Barbara,’ said Jasper, ‘you are indeed cruel.’ ‘Am I cruel?’ She turned and faced him again, with a threatening brow. ‘I have reason to be just. Cruel I am not.’ ‘You were all gentleness at one time, when I was ill. Now——’