’At the same time I think your interference ill-calculated to advance the cause you have at heart. It was indiscreet of you, Mirelle.’ ’Perhaps so. You are always right, and know what ought to be done, and do it.’ After a pause, she said: ’Yes, it was not wise of me. I will never do it again. But then, consider, I was alone, and had no one to advise me, for in this matter I could not consult Orange. When I was at the Sacré Coeur, I knew my way about the dear home in the dark, but here I am in a world without orientation. All the familiar landmarks fail me, all the ways lead in unknown directions. I am translated, morally, into a country that I am expected to travel through without a map or a guide.’ ’Mirelle, if you like, you have only to say the word and I will stay here as your adviser. You are too weak.’ ’No, my good friend, I am not weak.’ ’Weak in body, Mirelle—not weak in character.’ ’No; I will always do my duty, as I see it.’ ’You are too inexperienced to be left alone.’ ’I have Orange with me.’ ’But what is Orange as an adviser? You confessed as much just now when you admitted you were without a guide. Mirelle! I am sure Orange does not like you. She is’—he was about to add ’jealous,’ but he checked himself—’she is not a desirable person to have about you perpetually. I do not trust her sincerity.’ ’I do. I have never done anything to make her dislike me.’ He remained silent. It was difficult for him to speak the truth, and yet it must be spoken for her sake. ’Orange is strongly attached to Captain Trecarrel; that you know,’ said Herring. ’Now a loving woman is a suspicious woman. He will not renew his engagement with her, he shirks doing so; and she seeks an explanation of his conduct, and finds it where she has no right to look for it.’ Mirelle turned her face to Herring. ’I told you all, that evening after we had been married. You know that something passed between him and me, not much, just enough to——’ ’Yes, Mirelle, you told me that your heart was a treasure I might not possess, but you did not inform me to whom you had surrendered it.’ ’I did not! I failed in my duty. I intended to do so, my friend.’ ’You did not, but now I have found it out.’ ’Oh, John Herring, do not say that I surrendered my heart. That I never did. It was drawn from me, and I fought against it, I prayed against it. God help me! I have been very miserable: I am miserable still. You are not angry with me? I could not help myself.’ ’I—I angry with you? No, Mirelle, never; you have done me no wrong. If wrong has been done, it has been done by me to you.’