She touched his hand tenderly. It was scarcely kind of her--certainly not wise. She had taken off her glove, and the touch of her soft, delicate fingers thrilled him. The blood rushed through his veins like mad music. The longing to take her into his arms was almost uncontrollable. Her dark eyes looked upon him very kindly. "My friend," she said, "I know that you would be faithful. You must not be angry with me. Nay, it is your pity I want. Some day you will know all. Then you will understand. Perhaps even you will be sorry for me, if I am not forgotten. I only wish that I could tell you more; only I may not. It makes me sad to deny you, but I must." "I mean to know," he said doggedly--"I mean to know everything. You are sacrificing yourself. To talk of marrying a man whom you do not love is absurd. Who are you? If you do not tell me, I shall go to your guardian. I shall go to Mr. Sabin." "Mr. Sabin is always at your service," said a suave voice almost at his elbow. "Never more so than at the present." Wolfenden turned round with a start. It was indeed Mr. Sabin who stood there--Mr. Sabin, in unaccustomed guise, clad in a tweed suit and leaning upon an ordinary walking-stick. "Come," he said good-humouredly, "don't look at me as though I were something uncanny. If you had not been so very absorbed you would have heard me call to you from the cliffs. I wanted to save myself the climb, but you were deaf, both of you. Am I the first man whose footsteps upon the sands have fallen lightly? Now, what is it you want to ask me, Lord Wolfenden?" Wolfenden was in no way disturbed at the man's coming. On the contrary, he was glad of it. He answered boldly and without hesitation. "I want to marry your niece, Mr. Sabin," he said. "Very natural indeed," Mr. Sabin remarked easily. "If I were a young man of your age and evident taste I have not the least doubt but that I should want to marry her myself. I offer you my sincere sympathy. Unfortunately it is impossible." "I want to know," Wolfenden said, "why it is impossible? I want a reason of some sort." "You shall have one with pleasure," Mr. Sabin said. "My niece is already betrothed." "To a man," Wolfenden exclaimed indignantly, "whom she admits that she does not care for!" "Whom she has nevertheless," Mr. Sabin said firmly, and with a sudden flash of anger in his eyes, "agreed and promised of her own free will to marry. Look here, Lord Wolfenden, I do not desire to quarrel with you. You saved me from a very awkward accident a few nights ago, and I remain your debtor. Be reasonable! My niece has refused your offer. I confirm her refusal. Your proposal does us both much honour, but it is utterly out of the question. That is putting it plainly, is it not? Now, you must choose for yourself--whether you will drop the subject and remain our valued friend, or whether you compel me to ask you to leave us at once, and consider us henceforth as strangers."